Benz Patent-Motorwagen

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen ("patent motorcar"), built in 1885 by the German Karl Benz, is widely regarded as the first practical modern automobile and was the first car put into production. It was patented and unveiled in 1886. The original cost of the vehicle in 1886 was 600 imperial German marks, approximately 150 US dollars. Two years after Karl Benz first drove the car in July 1886, Karl's wife Bertha demonstrated its feasibility in a trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim in August 1888, shortly before it became the first commercially available automobile in history in the late summer of 1888. Due to the creation of the Patent-Motorwagen, Karl Benz has been hailed as the father and inventor of the automobile. Development, specifications and Karl Benz's first drive