First Car in the World | Benz Motorwagen

We live in an era where cars form an integral part of our lives. We have world-class Auto Manufacturers making the best possible cars packed with a host of exciting features. Cars these days have digital instrumentation, an infotainment screen and top-class interiors.

The human mind is working at its best and modern technology has equipped the world with the power to transform the auto industry. Carmakers are busy launching ‘Facelift’ and ‘New-Generation’ of the existing car models.

Self-driving cars have become a reality and cars are being equipped with advanced technology solutions (ADAS) aimed at enhancing road safety while driving. The Automobile Industry has seen a great boom over the last few years and is expanding rapidly.

As carmakers are busy equipping their cars with luxury features, we must take some time to remember the person who created the very first car during an era when technology was taking its baby steps and the only asset was the human mind.

This article will bring to light the story of the very first automobile, a telling tale that needs to be shared, an invention that changed the world! Had it not been for the first car, the world would have been devoid of the joy of riding cars!

First Car in the World

What is the Meaning of a 'Car'

A Car or an Automobile is a motor vehicle that has four wheels and runs on roads. It can accommodate one to eight people and can transport them from one place to another.

World's First Car Inventor

Karl Friedrich Benz (25 November 1844 to 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and an automotive engineer.

Karl (also spelled Carl) was passionate about bicycles and once visited a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim which was owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eblinger. The three became good friends in 1883 Carl Benz, Max Rose and Eblinger and founded a new company that produced industrial machines.

They named the company Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik later referred to as Benz & Cie by the locals. The company saw great success and grew to twenty-five employees in a short period. Benz & Cie soon began producing static gas engines as well.

The success of the company brought with it a great opportunity for Benz. He could now indulge in his old passion of designing a 'Horseless Carriage'. His knowledge of bicycles came in handy and he used a similar technology to create an automobile.

It had wire wheels unlike the wooden carriages and had a four-stroke engine between the wheels. The engine was designed by Karl and had very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted with the help of two roller chains to the rear axle.

In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which was designed in the year 1878. In many of his other inventions, he used the internal combustion engine as it was feasible for powering a vehicle.

World's 1st Car Patent

A Patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which can be in the form of a product or a process that is based on a new idea and offers a technical solution to a problem.

Patent Application

The term Patent Application refers to the legal and administrative proceedings that are followed while requesting the issuance of a patent for an invention.

Karl Benz finished the creation of his first Motorwagen in the year 1885 in Mannheim, Germany. Karl named it ‘Benz Patent-Motorwagen’.

On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz applied for a patent for his 'vehicle-powered by a gas engine'. The Motorwagen was patented on 29 January 1886 as DRP-37435:‘automobile fueled by gas’.

The patent number ‘37435’ is regarded as 'The Certificate of Birth of the Automobile'.

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen (Patent Motor Car), built in 1885 by Karl Benz, is widely regarded as the world's first practical modern automobile.

It was the first car that was put into series production that was patented and unveiled in 1886. The year 1886 is regarded as the Birth Year of the car as this was the year when the German Karl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Karl-Benz is remembered as the person who is the inventor of the car.

In July 1886 the newspapers covered the news of the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, which was referred to as Model No. 1.

Crash Test

The 1885 version was difficult to handle and during a public demonstration, the car went out of control. It led to a collision with a wall during that demonstration. Karl did not give up and in the early summer of 1886, the first tests were carried out on public roads and tests were successful.

World First Car Engine and Performance

Transmission

The early 1888 version of the Motorwagen had only two gears and it was difficult to climb hills for the Motorwagen without any aid. To find out the solution to the existing limitation, Bertha Benz made her famous trip driving one of the vehicles a long distance.

After the drive, she suggested to her husband that if he added a third gear, the Motorwagen would be able to climb the hills, unaided. It was during this trip that she invented the ‘Brake Pads’.

Engine

The Patent Motor Car had a 1-cylinder, 4-stroke internal combustion engine which was developed by Karl Benz. Emile Roger of France was already producing Benz engines under licence. He soon added the Benz car to his line of products. France, during that era, was more open to early cars, and so during the initial period, a majority of the cars that were built were sold in France through Roger. Compared to that, the cars sold by Benz in Germany were less in number.

Performance

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen built in 1886, the world's first automobile was a vehicle that was designed to be propelled by an internal combustion engine. The vehicle that was powered by an internal combustion engine was considered to be a rather fragile creation by many.

The carriage had three wheels and was powered by a 0.95-litre rear engine and provided 0.6bhp. It gave the Patent-Motorwagen a top speed of just under 10mph.

World First Car Price

The original price of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1885 was $1,000*.

Design of the first car

Benz designed the carriage with a rear-wheel drive. The vehicle was steered with the help of the front wheel, which was suspended in an unsprung fork and could be easily steered by a toothed rack that was connected with a crank. A multi-speed transmission, foot brake and a reverse gear had not yet been incorporated into the Patent Motor Car.

Promotion and Sales of Benz Motorwagen

The sale of the vehicle was started by Benz in the late summer of 1888. He advertised it as ‘Benz Patent-Motorwagen’, The Motor Wagon created by Benz was the first commercially available automobile in history.

Benz started the promotion of the Motorwagen on July 3, 1886. Between 1888 and 1893 about 25 Benz vehicles were sold. That was when he introduced his first four-wheeler along with a cheaper model.

Parisian bicycle manufacturer Emile Roger, who had already been building Benz engines under licence from Karl Benz for several years became the second customer of the Motorwagen. Roger added the Benz automobiles, many of which were built in France, to the line he carried in Paris. Initially, more cars were sold in Paris than in Germany.

Facelift of Benz Motorwagen Models

The next year Benz created the updated version of his car, the Motorwagen Model 2 and he added several modifications to the existing model. Thereafter in the year 1889, he created the updated Model 3 which had wooden wheels. The new model was unveiled during the Paris Expo in the same year.

First Long-Distance Driver

In August 1888, Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by Motorwagen to prove the effectiveness of her husband's invention. It was the World’s first ever long-distance automobile trip using a Model 3.

Benz & Cie Company

The company Benz & Cie., based in Mannheim, was the world's first automobile plant and was the largest during that time. In 1926 it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and formed Daimler-Benz which produces the Mercedes-Benz among the other brands.

Karl Benz is widely regarded as ‘The Father of the Car’ and 'The Father of the Automobile Industry’

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This article covers the story of the first car which was a Motorwagen designed and invented by the German Engine Designer and Automotive Engineer Karl Benz.

We will keep sharing more stories through our articles that will provide considerable insight into the ‘Evolution of Automobiles’. Keep checking our website www.carbike360.com/articles to find out unique stories from the automobile world.