The Touring Car of the Future, 1905

Fast-forward to the turn of the century and automobile manufacturing was increasing steadily. Couple that with wealthy Americans’ increasing appetite for travel across the States and US travelers were in need of a new breed of motorcar.

This 1905 sketch by Albert Levering – titled “The touring car of the future” – is tongue-in-cheek, but it signals a want for a new vehicle that offers explorers everything they need on the road.

Illustration shows a huge triple-decker touring vehicle with “Dining Hall, Kitchen, Servants Hall, High Finance and Recuperation Apartment, State Rooms, Hair Dressing Studio, Gossip Den, Nursery [and] to Gymnasium on the roof,” traveling down a dirt road in the countryside.