Found this News Article on the Australian MB Site -


World’s first car now on sale – 115 years late

115 years after the birth of the automobile in 1886, Mercedes-Benz has begun selling exact replicas of the original Benz Patent Motor Car.


Over 70 orders for the ready-to-drive “Benz three-wheeler” have been received from collectors and institutions around the world.

The car, which has a top speed of 16 km/h, is available in a handcrafted small series thanks to the dedicated staff at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Centre in Germany.

The sole remaining original car, which Karl Benz personally donated to the Deutsches Museum in Munich in 1906, was used as the template.

The replica is made from contemporary materials and is manufactured in painstaking handcraft – just like the original.

Unlike the original, today’s car uses standard gasoline instead of ligroin, is always ready for use and does not place unreasonable demands on its chauffeur.

The 21st century version of the 1886 car is priced at around $96,000 (excluding duties and transportation costs).

When Karl Benz applied for a patent on January 29, 1886 for his "vehicle with gas engine operation," little did he realise that his invention would change the world.

Patent DRP 37435 is regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile, and the Benz Patent Motor Car became the world's first automobile.

No sooner had the three-wheeler returned from its outing on July 3, 1886 – the first public sortie of a road vehicle to be described by the press – than Benz gave his full attention to further development. His credo was progress, not retrospection.

While a whole range of new models was being developed at Benz & Cie., the Number 1 "Patent Motor Car" languished in the company's rear yard gathering dust.

It was not until its twentieth anniversary that Karl Benz recalled the striking qualities of his first automobile. He had the original vehicle restored in 1906 and subsequently donated it to the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

Just like the original Patent Motor Car, the replica Benz automobile is driven by a water-cooled single-cylinder rear-mounted engine with a displacement of 954 cc. Its power output of 0.75 hp at 400 rpm catapults this vehicle – which thanks to its lightweight steel tube frame and delicate spoked wheels weighs only 265 kg – to a breathtaking 16 km/h.

Mike