The first automobile in history
At the Brno Revival Mezi pavilony event, visitors will see almost a hundred different vintage cars and the same number of motorcycles. A replica of the three-wheeled patented motor car (Benz Patent-Motorwagen) produced in 1885 by Karl Benz will also arrive from the museum of Mr. Ladislav Samohyl.
On the twenty-ninth of January 1886, Karl Benz submitted an application to the German patent office for the registration of a tricycle with a gasoline engine, thus starting a new stage in human history in which the automobile became an essential part of many people's lives. The patent document with the number DRP 37435 was issued to him at the beginning of November of the same year.
A number of other designers have tried to build a self-propelled vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. However, Benz was the first to design his tricycle as a completely new means of transportation and not just as a motorized carriage. Benz began to build the vehicle with a tubular frame and tall wire wheels in 1885. To power it, he built a 954 cc four-stroke single-cylinder engine, which he placed under the driver's seat. A massive flywheel between the rear wheels kept the engine running and also started the car through it.
Benz publicly demonstrated his "horseless carriage" on July 3, 1886 in Mannheim, but his customers were primarily wealthy enthusiasts of modern technology. The public considered the tricycle more of a curiosity. That changed in August 1888, when Benz's wife Bertha and her two sons made the trip to visit relatives in Pforzheim, more than a hundred kilometers away, without any problems.
Since 1894, Benz has been offering customers a four-wheeled model with the name Velo. With about 1,200 units produced, it could be referred to as the first mass-produced car. The success of the Velo cars encouraged Carl Benz to open his own factory in Ladenburg. In 1926, Benz & Cie merged with Gottlieb Daimler's descendants and the Mercedes-Benz brand was born.
The original "Benz Patent Motorwagen" is stored in the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, but the Mercedes-Benz company still produces copies of the car and offers them for around 60,000 euros. One of these copies will be driven along the track of the Brno exhibition center during this weekend.
