To get this thread started on the right foot, and because it’s an appropriate car to begin this thread with, let us begin with…..
Replica Specifications:
- Steel Tube Frame and Woodwork Panel Construction
- Water-cooled Gasoline Powered Rear-mounted Four-stroke Horizontal Mounted Single Cylinder 954 cc Engine w/Horizontal Cast-iron Flywheel
- High-voltage Electric Buzzer Ignition (started by rotating the flywheel)
- Charge Exchange via Inlet Slide Controlled by Eccentric Pushrod with Vertical Outlet Poppet Valve Controlled by Cam Disc, Rocker Arm and Push Rod.
- Sleeve Valve Controlled Evaporative Surface Carburetor
- Open Crankcase
- Drip Oiling System with Grease Box
- Thermosyphon Evaporator Cooling
- Rigid Rear Axle with Fully-elliptic Springs and Two Chain Drives
- Differential Rear End Gears (mechanically operated inlet valves)
- Flat Belt Driven Single-speed Countershaft Transmission with Idling and Fixed Discs and Integrated Differential
- Steering Wheel Fork Chained to Front Axle with a Toothed Rack that Pivoted the Unsprung Front Wheel
- Rack-and-pinion Steering (steering crank in middle of vehicle)
- Hand Brake Applied to Countershaft Pulley (no foot brake)
- Three Steel-spoked Wheels and Solid Rubber Tires
- Compression_: 1:2.7
- Bore________: __90 mm
- Stroke______: _150 mm
- Front Wheel_: _730 mm
- Rear Wheel__: 1125 mm
- Wheelbase___: 1450 mm
- Track Width_: 1190 mm
- Width_______: 1400 mm
- Length______: 2700 mm
- Height______: 1450 mm
- Curb Weight_: _265 kg
- Power_______: 0.75 hp (400 RPM)
- Torque______: 1.12 kgf.m
- 0-15 kph____: 11.7 seconds
- Top speed___: 15.9 kph
- Fuel Economy: 38.6 kpg
Designed and built by Karl Benz in 1885, it was the *first commercial gasoline powered automobile with an internal combustion engine. The German patent number is #37435, which Benz applied for on January 29, 1886.
Karl Benz officially unveiled the commercial version on July 3, 1886 on the Ringstraße in Mannheim, Germany. 25 Benz Patent Motorwagens were produced between 1886 and 1894 with four different engines from 1 to 2 liters and power from 0.75hp to 3hp. Mercedes-Benz built 90 full-scale replicas in 2003 and 2004 with maximum precision from the original blueprints. These replicas have mostly been distributed to various museums and a handful of private collectors. The version in GT4 is based on this replica, specifically the one owned by the
Toyota Automobile Museum in Aichi, Japan - pictured below.
- The first automobiles with gasoline powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German inventors working independently including Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, but Karl Benz was the first to apply for a patent. In 1989 Daimler and Maybach designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile rather than a horse carriage fitted with an engine. They also were inventors of the first motor bike in 1886.
Among other things, Karl Benz invented the carburetor, accelerator, clutch, gearshift, water radiator, spark plug, and ignition using sparks from a battery.
In 1896, Karl Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion boxer engine with horizontally-opposed pistons, which continues to be the design principle for high performance engines used in motor sports.
Links with Additional Info & Pics:
