Benz Patent-Motorwagen

Benz Patent-Motorwagen ("patent motorcar") is used today to refer to the first cars produced by Benz & Cie between 1885 and 1893; these had three wheels, a single-cylinder four-stroke engine and belt-drive. Benz & Cie used the designation "Patent-Motorwagen" for their four-wheel cars until c.1900, but these are known today by their other names, such as Viktoria and Velo. All these cars used the same layout and belt-drive technology for which Benz received patent number DRP37435 in 1886, hence the designation.

The original Patent-Motorwagen was developed over the period 1884 – 1887 by the German engineer Carl Benz and is widely regarded as the first practical automobile. It was also the first car to be put into production, being manufactured and sold between 1887 and 1893.

The engine's output was stabilised by a flywheel. In the first vehicles this was horizontal and the vehicles had a single belt-drive. Later vehicles had a vertical flywheel and two belt-drives. Each belt-drive gave a single transmission ratio; from 1886 the single-belt-drive vehicles also had a reduction gearbox which provided a second transmission ratio.

Production ceased after Benz had perfected two-wheel steering and began manufacturing four-wheel models from late 1892. Around 1895 the Sales Manager at Benz & Cie sought to recreate the form which the original vehicle took in early 1886 before it was given a new body. The rebuilt vehicle was given to the Deutsches Museum in 1906; replicas of it have been produced from the mid-twentieth century.