Home-Built Replica Of "World's First Car"

Home-Built Replica Of "World's First Car" AG WORLD 32-5-24 According to most historians, the world's first commercial car was built in Germany in 1886. It was a 3-wheeled model called the Benz. Jerry Becker of Algona, Iowa, built a full-scale working replica of it entirely from scratch. The 3-wheeled car is equipped with a pair of 41-in. rear wheels and a 29-in. caster wheel on front. It has a vertical tiller steering rod and a two-person upholstered seat on an oak platform. "It's almost identical to the original," says Becker. "It generates a lot of interest whenever I drive it in parades or show it anywhere. Over the years I've won a shelf full of trophies which I keep in my garage." The original Benz was built by Carl Benz in 1886 and was a predecessor of the famous Mercedes Benz car. Benz produced several car models, and one of them can still be found in a museum in Stuttgart, Germany. It was the first car ever equipped with an internal combustion engine û a 4-stroke model not all that different from today's engines. Becker's car, however, has a "fake" 4-stroke engine that looks like the real thing. The car is actually powered by a 7 hp Briggs and Stratton engine. The engine belt-drives a hydrostatic transmission out of an old riding mower and also chain-drives the car's rear wheels. The engine also belt-drives a 2-ft. dia. flywheel that's built into the fake engine and causes a crankshaft to turn. "You can look inside the fake engine and see a piston going back and forth," says Becker. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jerry Becker, 201 E. McGregor no. 8, Algona, Iowa 50511(ph 515 295-7151 or 515 341-7151).

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