Mercedes Benz Patent Motorwagen Shows How It All Started

Have you ever wondered how the first Mercedes looked like? Well… it had nothing to do with modern models. The forefather of all Mercedes was called “Patent-Motorwagen” and was an instant hit. Its creator Karl Benz was a bicycleenthusiast, also an engineer and a machinist. As a tribute to that Duane Clark has designed a “Patent-Motorwagen” replica.

Clark is a storehouse of information on automobiles and his passion is truly reflected is his untiring efforts to replicate the first car. Duane Clark used his entire repertoire of tidbits to recreate the model, and it's a tribute to that early prototype which passed its genes in the modern cars of today. Marking the 125th anniversary of the great design, Clark and his wife are displaying their prized creation at a number of Mercedes-Benz dealerships.

The technology behind this machine remains intriguing. It also features a one cylinder engine is cooled by water. The power developed by the engine is not much, but that can be excused given the time in which the design was originally created. The machine has a supercharger, and can run to 17km per hour.

Also worth mentioning, iss that the vehicle requires a special fuel and can cover 100 km on 10 liter of the same fuel. The rear wheels are connected to the engine through chains an unusual feature at a car, but given the fact that Benz had a soft spot for bicycles we can understand the design. The machine is currently priced at $88,000. We would say that it is not much, considering its background in automotive evolution.