by Robert Lewis (07 Dec 03)

We’ve already described how - thanks to his wife Bertha, who set off with her two sons on the prototype three-wheeler, one morning in August 1888 while he was still asleep - Karl Benz’s Patent Motor Car Model 3 was the first petrol-engined vehicle in the world to make a long-distance journey (see our Bertha Benz feature).

Mercedes-Benz, which never forgets the hyphen, is now recalling how, 110 years ago this month, Karl was getting ready to go into volume production with a four-wheeled model called the Velo, short for Velocipede. He’d already had one on display in the Chicago World Exposition which finished at the end of October 1893, and would put it into production the following year.

One of the reasons he was so slow in moving from three to four wheels was that he knew he’d need a better steering system. He patented a type of double-pivot steering arrangement for his 1893 Victoria four-wheeler, but he was already thinking about an altogether lighter car, the one which became the Velo (pictured here with his daughters Klara and Thilde on board during an excursion in 1895).

It went into production in 1894, weighing 100kg less than the Victoria, with a metal-reinforced wooden chassis frame, a shorter wheelbase than the three-wheelers, and the new double-pivot steering controlled from a vertical column.

Benz designed a smaller single-cylinder engine to power the Velo. With a capacity of 1045cc, it produced 1.5bhp while running at 450rpm. It was mounted horizontally, with an open crankcase, and, as with the car Bertha and her sons took away, it had to be started by hand-turning the flywheel. There were two forward speeds and no reverse gear.

The 18-litre fuel tank was under the seat, and that rather limited the length of each journey, because the Velo used around 14 litres for every 100km travelled. Top speed was 20km/h.

Lights And Everything

That original version was publicised as having "perfectly refined equipment complete with lanterns". Two years later a revised model called the Comfortable (pictured below) appeared, with the same capacity engine but power boosted to 2.75bhp at 600rpm. Performance improved to the point where the top speed was 30km/h, and there was a proper crank to start the engine instead of the primitive business of turning the flywheel by hand.

The Benz company started to offer extra-cost options. One was a three-speed-and-reverse transmission, and others included pneumatic instead of solid tyres, a leather splash guard and a parasol against the heat of the sun.

Although his designs came to be regarded as archaic, especially by French and German manufacturers coming up with more highly developed cars, Benz introduced a revised 1900 model with a 3bhp engine, and in 1901 the same 1045cc capacity was good for 3.5hp.

While the company also turned out some larger-capacity cars during this time, it was the Velo and its development the Comfortable which were the big sellers. While something like 25 of the original Benz Patent Motor Cars had been sold, between 1894 and 1902 production of the Velo/Comfortable range totalled more than 1200.

A build rate more like that of the Mercedes-McLaren SLR than of the A-Class, in fact. But the Benz was the first small car in the world put into anything like volume production, and it‘s worth its place in motoring history.

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