The First Car Ever Made is Up For Sale

It's a replica, of course, but fully functional. Still, it's a piece of history that made revolutionary and innovative waves in 1886, because the Benz Patent-Motorwagen is considered the"first vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine in the world." It's also the first vehicle to ever receive its own patent: Patent No. 37435 for a “vehicle with gas-engine drive” .

This important invention is also revolutionary in that it paved the way for Ford to create its first-ever mass produced cars by following Benz Patent Motorwagen's petrol-powered engine concept.

Features

Spurred by a four-stroke, 0.95 liter engine that makes 2/3 horsepower at 250 rpm, it only had a tubular chassis and three wire frame wheels. Still, it did have brakes, gasoline engine, cooling, transmission, high-voltage electrical vibrator ignition, and rack-and-pinion steering that still prevail even to this day.

The three-wheeled vehicle only has one cylinder, with a displacement of about 58 per cubic inches (0.950 liter). It has a top speed of 16 kph.

History

Karl Benz designed the vehicle in 1885 and filed for a patent on January 29, 1886.

The story of how the vehicle came about is interesting. During that time, several companies were already busy creating motor vehicles on their own. In fact, after Karl Benz patented the three-wheeled Benz Patent-Motorwagen, Gottlieb Daimler had also patented an internal-combustion engine using a four-wheeled horseless carriage that same year.

But what set it apart from the competition was Benz' wife, Bertha, who promoted it by showing the public what it could do. In 1888, she took the vehicle for a long-distance trip without telling her husband, and with her children in tow, drove the vehicle throughout the country for a total of 194 kilometers. She even invented brake lining accidentally. During the long drive, she asked the help of a shoemaker to nail a leather lining on her worn out brakes. She came back home three days later, with the Motorwagen etched in the public's mind.

The rest, they say, is history.

"Patent Wagen No.1" Replica on Sale

The Benz Motorwagen  reproduction, which looks more of a horseless carriage than a car, was built in 2001/2002 for museum and public exhibit purposes. It belongs to Mercedes Benz's Concours Edition, which was restored by Mercedes-Benz Classic experts in Fellbak/Stuttgart.

There are a significant number of  these replicas sold over the years, and many of them have sold for an estimated USD50,000-USD60,000 (over PHP2.67 to PHP3.2 million). The price is definitely worth it, since it's the only chance anyone can buy the first-ever Benz model that changed the way people used transportation in their everyday lives. Besides, car experts say that unused and well-maintained replicas have resale and new market prices that remain relatively the same, so it's worth the investment.

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