PHOTO: CHRONICLE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

For the 10th Paris Auto Show in 1907, carmaker De Dion-Bouton displayed its entries in the now-legendary Peking to Paris auto race. At one time the world's largest automobile manufacturer, De Dion-Bouton exhibited its cars – seen here in front – that finished third and fourth in the grueling 9,317-mile race, fueled much of the way by camels laden with gasoline sent ahead on the route. Instead of the usual sales spiels that were rote even then, staffers could tell tales of the cars overcoming obstacles far more perilous than the common pothole, including mud, quicksand, and the vast Gobi desert.