In 1885, Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. A year later, the car was presented to the public, and now, almost 140 years later, the Benz is still considered to be the first modern car. Ah yes! That modern aspect may also bring the slightest smile to our faces. After the first version, a second and finally a third variant was introduced. With the ‘Nr. 3,’ Karl’s wife, Bertha, took the first long trip. The 19th-century road trip went from Mannheim, via Heidelberg and Wiesloch, to her mother’s house in Pforzheim in August 1888 and was an impressive 106 kilometres long. The average speed? Please sit down: 16, yes, six-teen, kilometres per hour.

Are you seated again? Then it’s time to talk about this specimen. The original is in the Mercedes-Benz museum, but only perfect replicas have been built, and this is one of them. Not a car that ‘comes close to’ or is ‘inspired by,’ but a formidable copy of that original first car. Mercedes-Benz had about 100 of them built in England to distribute to various dealers and important contacts.

We can skip the ‘under the hood’ part because the technology is visible in the open behind the wooden bench with a steel frame. The engine is a 954 single-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine, capable of a dizzying 0. 75 horsepower at 400 revolutions per minute. A true combustion engine whose basic principle is still used in petrol cars. The drive is via a belt over two pulleys, which act as a transmission with only one gear. An axle drives the wheels via two chains. It makes this Benz a rear-wheel drive, although you shouldn’t expect to find the normal enjoyment derived from a rear-wheel drive.

There is no interior so the exterior seating will have to suffice. A wooden bench, with leather upholstery, that part is true. Steering is done with a steering lever, as many truck drivers will still know.

We don’t need to tell you that the experience is, of course, unique. Driving this Benz has to be an experience never to be forgotten. We don’t need to discuss handling, ride comfort, or luxury on board: it is not present and totally irrelevant.

The condition of this Benz Patent-Motorwagen? It is simply new. There is no odometer present to underline this, but every screw and bolt shows that this first modern classic has never been used.