The year was 1886. The Statue of Liberty opened to the public in New York, Coca-Cola “sparkling medicine” began to be sold in a pharmacy in Atlanta, USA for five cents, and Karl Benz had just fulfilled a childhood dream. It was on January 29 that he successfully patented his car moving by the power of an engine connected to a chassis. It was called Benz Patent-Motorwagen number 1 and was considered the first car with an internal combustion engine. It shared innovative technologies with modern cars at the time, such as a petrol engine, electric ignition, carburettor or water cooler.
It was one of the most significant moments of the booming industry. The revolutionary horseless carriage changed the world forever, but from the first public appearance in June of that year, all future automobiles still had a long development ahead of them. At the same time, Karl Benz was literally ahead of his time. When the designers later examined the spark plug he developed, they found that he had already relied on an electrode material that was not used commercially until fifty years later. He also developed the ignition with his own hands to match the weak batteries of the time.
If there’s one thing you need to know about the historic Benz Patent-Motorwagen No. 1, it’s the fact that it was the very first automobile with an internal combustion engine.
Karl Benz said that the single-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine he designed had a displacement of 954 cc and an output of 0.67 horsepower (0.5 kW) at 250 rpm. Later calculations and tests by the University of Stuttgart specified the engine’s peak power at 0.9 horsepower (0.67 kW) at 400 rpm. And there were also fuels in the diapers, because Benz’s first car burned ligroin, then sold in pharmacies as a stain remover. Subsequently, in 1888, the gasoline tricycle became the first commercially sold car in history with a price of 600 German marks, equivalent to approximately 100,000 crowns today.
Business success thanks to a journey that showed real usability
Karl Benz invented the first ever car with an internal combustion engine with the support of his family. He financed the development of the Patent-Motorwagen from the wedding dowry of his wife Bertha, who was aware of the desirable publicity. She drew a lot of attention to the revolutionary invention when, at the beginning of August 1888, she took the third car produced and her sons Eugene and Richard for a ride from Mannheim to her native Pforzheim along the wagon tracks.
During the 106-kilometer trip, she was forced to stop at pharmacies to buy the ligroin needed for refueling. The first automobile in the world did not have a fuel tank and only held a 4.5-liter supply of fuel in the carburetor. Today, it is estimated that he drove with a consumption of approximately 10 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers. Bertha Benz became the first person in history to drive an automobile over a long distance, choosing to do so without the knowledge of her husband or the authorities.
Benz Patent-Motorwagen number 3, with which Bertha Benz managed the first ever long journey by car. It was 106 kilometers long.
It is said that around 20 to 25 cars left Karl Benz’s workshops, as the popularity of the revolutionary invention was helped by his wife Bertha’s famous drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim. Subsequently, in the eighties of the last century, during the celebrations of the car’s 100th anniversary, Mercedes-Benz teamed up with British specialists from John Bentley Engineering to produce one hundred identical machines for official dealers and VIP customers from all over the world. This occupied them for eleven long years.
Karl Benz was ahead of his time. He developed a spark plug of his own design from the same material that was used commercially only fifty years later.
One of them changed hands just a few days ago when it was sold in Great Britain for 805,000 crowns. He thus showed that one of the most important inventions of all time and perhaps the most important car at all can be the jewel of any car collection for surprisingly little money. Even experts say that official replicas are a flawless tribute to the original. They have the same single-cylinder petrol liter four-stroke with a belt drive working as a single-speed gearbox.
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1
The innovative tricycle is recognized by historians as the very first automobile in the world, which helped its creator to the title of “father and inventor of the automobile.” In the era of the creation of the iconic Benz Patent-Motorwagen number 1, several inventors working with a steam engine as a drive were trying to develop a car. However, steam locomotives were dangerous and difficult to control, so Karl Benz’s gasoline internal combustion engine was the music of the future.
