Being trusted to drive someone's personal automobile is always something I have been a little apprehensive about. Being a part of the flourishing classic car movement in the country though, invitations to drive some pretty rare and amazing cars do come quite regularly but usually end up being declined. That said, I was recently invited to grace the opening of the new Gedee Car Museum in the city of Coimbatore in South India and little did I know, it would turn out to be possibly the most memorable motoring related day in recent history.
One of the museum's most priced possessions is an exact replica of an 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first-ever internal combustion automobile. Discussing the history of this iconic automobile and Bertha Benz's legendary drive in the car in 1888 (making her the first person in the world to undertake an automotive journey of over 100 kilometers), I mentioned how the driving experience for something this basic would be quite overwhelming in today's day and age. 'Would you like to drive it?' asked Mr. G.D. Gopal Naidu, the owner of the museum. A true 'kid in a candy store' moment ensued and before he could change his mind, I accepted the proposal.
In a few minutes, the car was wheeled out and after some Benzene (which was used as the original fuel instead of petrol) was carefully filled into the fuel tank and some settings to the air intake screw on the MASSIVE carburetor were undertaken, it was time to manually turn the large crank wheel and a chug-chug-chug later the Patent-Motorwagen came to life. Now, as I have always mentioned, auto journalists have one of the best jobs in the world and we regularly drive exotic cars but the sheer excitement to drive something this iconic is absolutely unparallel
Although the Benz Patent-Motorwagen looks rather complicated to drive, it is as simple as riding a gearless scooter. In fact, it is simpler than that. There is a tiller type contraption that one finds on a boat used to steer the singular front wheel and a throttle lever on the left used to accelerate or decelerate. The engine, a 954cc single cylinder originally made only 1 horsepower at 250Rpm. That engine though, unlike the one here, was not run through a carburetor but by a basin of fuel soaked fibers that supplied fuel to the cylinder by evaporation. Karl Benz later evolved the Patent-Motorwagen to run on carburetor (just like the one we have here) making slightly more power but still with a top speed of 19 kmph. This replica though can manage a staggering 36kmph in the right hands.
So how is it to actually get behind the wheelandhellip;.ummandhellip;handle.. and drive it? Simple yet Scary For one, it doesn't have any brakes. To slow it down and effectively stop it, you have to pull back on the throttle lever which in turn through a fast pulley-slow pulley arrangement moves the drive belt thereby cutting down on the drive to the axle thus reducing the speed of the Patent-Motorwagen. The tiller steering arrangement too is tricky at best. With the ability to move the lever almost 90 percent giving great maneuverability at slow speeds, the car does get a little unstable at speeds over 10kmph due to its high centre of gravity and skinny tyres.
The tyres themselves are not pneumatic and are a solid piece or rubber moulded onto a steel spoke wheel. Later models also came with a rubber braking system (replaced later by a leather wrapped braking apparatus) on the rear wheels that although rudimentary was quite effective to slow the Benz Patent-Motorwagen down. And it does not really have a key, so how do you shut it? Well, simple. You simply turn a screw that slowly disconnects the battery, which in turn stops the spark plug from firing gradually shuts, the pushrod engine down.
Even though I drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen on private property, the kind of attention it seeked was second to none. In an age where we are at the brink of self-driving cars becoming a possible reality, I can only imagine what sort of reactions the Patent-Motorwagen would have garnered over 130 years ago in 1886. In fact, when Bertha Benz undertook her 100 kilometer journey with her sons Eugen and Richard, fifteen and fourteen years old, respectively, from Mannheim through Heidelberg, and Wiesloch, to her maternal hometown of Pforzheim, there were several complaints made to the police by residents who claimed to have spotted a devilish machine going through the streets.
That said, even though most relegate these phenomenal replicas to climate controlled garages and museums, the fact that this particular replica recently completed the 21 Gun Salute vintage car rally in Delhi and that we were given the opportunity to drive it too, speaks greatly of both the owners trust in the engineering integrity that the late great Karl Benz demonstrated. This day then, will forever remain engraved in the annals of memory and will certainly be a story to tell the grandchildren. You can keep your Lamborghinis, for the sheer joy of mobility, I would have this over any modern car any day
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