Birth of the Automobile
Next: January 29, 2027
Three wheels, one engine, a new world.
The story
Where it comes from
On 29 January 1886, in Mannheim, Germany, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his 'vehicle powered by a gas engine', and this Story marks the anniversary. Patent number 37435 is often called the birth certificate of the automobile. His two-seater, finished in 1885, had a tubular steel frame, three wire-spoked wheels and a small single-cylinder four-stroke engine at the back, giving less than one horsepower. In July 1886 newspapers reported its first public outing.
How it's celebrated
There is no organised observance, but it is a good day to look at an old car with fresh eyes, visit a transport museum, or thank the person who taught you to drive. Families can trace together how far the car has come in a little over a century.
Did you know
- In August 1888 his wife, Bertha Benz, took the car without telling him and drove with their sons Eugen and Richard from Mannheim to her birthplace, Pforzheim: about 180 kilometres there and back, the first long-distance journey by car.
- Benz's first engine, a stationary one, ran for the first time on New Year's Eve 1879.
- His Benz Velo of 1894, of which some 1,200 were built, is counted as the world's first production car.
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