decars1-2, Exercise 1: The Patent-Motorwagen

Model answer (check the details):

What was new: Benz designed a three-wheeled vehicle as a complete machine, with a light single-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine mounted at the rear, and not a horse carriage with an engine added. The engine, ignition, cooling and drive were worked out together for a road vehicle.

Why the patent of 1886 is the "birth certificate": the application of 29 January 1886 is a dated legal document that describes a vehicle driven by a petrol engine, which makes it the best-documented starting point. Dates of other early vehicles are less precisely recorded.

Qualification: calling it "the first car" depends on the definition used (Chapter 1). Daimler and Maybach built their own vehicles in the same years, and earlier steam and gas-powered vehicles existed. The patent date is the best-documented marker, not the only possible one.