Tag Archives: Benz

In the Beginning…

This is the most important car that this site has ever featured. Because it is the father of them all.

Built in 1885, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen Nr.1 was first commercially available automobile in history, and the world would never be the same.

Powered by a single-cylinder 1 litre engine producing less than a single horsepower, Karl Benz’s creation forged a different future not just for transportation, but urbanisation, the environment, and even society itself.

This fabulous replica of the invention that changed everything is the work of Nikolaus Lowe of Flickr, who has recreated the Patent-Motorwagen’s single cylinder engine, horizontal flywheel, belt drive, and toothed-rack steering, riding atop third-party wheels, and all of which operate as they did some one-hundred-and-forty-years ago.

There’s more to see of Nikolaus’s beautiful creation at his ‘Benz Nr. 1’ album on Flickr, and you can head to the genesis of every model that this site has ever featured via the link above.

Genesis

This is where it all began. Supercars, muscle cars, minivans, Tesla, drive-thus, The Fast and the Furious franchise, Magic Tree air fresheners, and the Pontiac Aztek. All trace their existence back to this, the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the world’s first commercially-available motorcar.

Designed by German engineer Carl Benz, and financed by his wealthy wife, around twenty-five Patent-Motorwagens were produced, each powered by a 950cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine making between 2⁄3hp and 1.5hp. The car transported Carl’s wife Bertha and their two sons on the first ever long-distance car journey (66 miles) to raise publicity for the machine, a feat that she undertook without Carl’s knowledge or approval from the authorities. Which makes her excellent.

It worked of course, and began Benz’s journey to becoming one of the most well known companies on earth, ushering in the complete dominance of the internal-combustion-engined motorcar too, with all the planetary consequences that followed.

This lovely recreation of the motorcar’s genesis comes from Simon Pickard, who has built and presented the Benz Patent-Motorwagen beautifully in brick form. Click the link above to take a look at where it all began.

Benz Patent-Motorwagen

This is the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first produced in 1886 and widely considered to be the first production motor car. Designed by Karl Benz (and financed by his wife Bertha, what a woman!), the Patent-Motorwagen was powered by a 1 litre single-cylinder engine producing around 3hp. That might not sound much but of course the Patent-Motorwagen was once the world’s fastest production car. And simultaneously the slowest…

Around 25 units were built between 1886 and the early 1890s, and newcomer Jacob Anderson has added one more, with his rather stylish Lego recreation of motoring’s genesis. A neat Victorian-era street completes the build and there’s more to see of his excellent Benz Patent-Motorwagen via the link above.