Amazing Old Stuff That Still Works

World's Oldest Running Car – Built in 1884

 A steam-powered car, billed as "The Oldest Car In The World That Still Runs," was sold in October 2011 at a Hershey, Pa. auction, for $4.6 million. The car had been built in France in 1884, about a year before Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz of Germany - who went on to found the car-makers that would become Daimler (DDAIF), maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars - built their first experimental gasoline-powered cars.

The four-wheeled De Dion-Bouton et Trepardoux, nicknamed "La Marquise," was originally built for the French Count De Dion, one of the founders of the company that built it. Fueled by coal, wood and bits of paper, the car takes about a half hour to work up enough steam to drive. Top speed is 38 miles per hour. The car came close to that speed during what has been billed as "The World's First Automobile Race" in 1887, according to RM Auctions. The car had last been sold in 2007 for about $3.5 million at a Pebble Beach, Calif. auction.

Britain's Oldest TV – Working for 75 years

 For £5,000 you might have expected a bigger, flatter screen. But this television does come with 75 years of broadcasting history – and you can still hook it up to a Freeview box. Built in 1936, the Marconi type-702 is the oldest working television set in Britain. It was bought for just under £100 only three weeks after transmissions in Britain began. And with just one channel broadcasting for two hours a day, there wasn't much need for a remote control.But what the television lacks in modern technology, it makes up for in reliability. Only 30 per cent of its components have been replaced during its lifetime, all with identical parts.The 75-year-old set has a 12-in. screen contained in a walnut and mahogany case, with the picture reflected on to a mirror for the viewer to look at. The TV has now a pre-sale estimate of £5,000, but experts at Bonhams expect it to fetch much more. It cost Mr. Davis £99 and 15 shillings – more than half the annual average wage at the time and equivalent to almost £4,000 today. Its serial number is H1007, and it is thought the sequence began at 1,000, making it number 7.

Oldest Working Computer – Working since 1958

 In Japans Ikeda Memorial Hall sits the FACOM 128B that was built in 1958 and still works today! It has gone through some small upgrades over the years to keep it running, but still has the same core system. The FACOM occupies 700 feet of floor space and has less calculating power than a real calculator. The company's goal is to keep it running until the year 2016 when it will have reached its 60th year of operation.

World's Oldest Light bulb – Working for 111 years

  The world's oldest light bulb has been burning for 111 years - so little wonder it has a fan club with thousands of members and its own website. As EU rules deny householders the right to use traditional filament bulbs, the so-called 'Centennial Light' has been on almost constantly since 1901. It holds pride of place in Fire Station 6, in Livermore, northern California.

 The longest time the Guinness World Record-holding bulb has ever been turned off for is just a week. Dangling above the fire engines, people come for hundreds and thousands of miles to see the diminutive symbol. The bulb was designed by Adolphe Chailet, who competed with the likes of the world-famous Thomas Edison to make the best bulb