In the second of a series charting the wonders of the motoring world, Adrian Hearn presents seven fantastic facts on the Benz Patent Motorwagen.

Karl Benz is the godfather of motoring.  His 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen was the world’s first car, laying the foundations for the motoring industry as we know it.

Invention
Karl Benz built bicycles in Mannheim, Germany, but his dream was to create a horseless carriage.

After a year of designing and testing, Benz patented his ‘automobile fuelled by gas’ creation on January 29 1886 - the Benz Patent Motorwagen, and motoring as we know it, was born.

Performance
The water-cooled Motorwagen used a 958cc single cylinder, four-stroke petrol engine producing 0.8bhp – giving the three-wheeler a top speed of 9mph.

Hill climbing
Its limited power meant that on a steep incline, the driver and passengers had to get out and push the 360kg machine.

Grand theft auto
In 1888, Benz started advertising his invention – to no response.

Then one night his wife Berta ‘borrowed’ the motor and – with her teenage sons – drove it 65 miles from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit family. Word of their journey spread with fascinated onlookers getting a glimpse of the world’s first automobile.

Showtime
In 1889, Benz exhibited the Motorwagen at the Paris Exposition, catching the eye of French cycle maker Emile Roger. 

Roger - who had been building Benz bike engines under licence – decided to start making the car in France.
 
Mass production
Only 25 Motorwagens were built between 1886 and 1893 with the third model using wooden wheels as rather than wire.

Three wheels good, four wheels better
The Motorwagen’s production came to an end in 1893, when Benz added an additional wheel to his invention - naming it The Benz Viktoria.

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