In Britain Herbert Austin, works manager of the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Co, built the first of the Wolseley cars in 1896. Britain had been slow to adopt the concept of the motor car, partly because of the strong lobby from the railways and partly because legislation until 1896 had limited the speed of powered vehicles to 4mph in the countryside and 2mph in towns. In 1896 the limit was raised to 14mph and in 1903 to 20mph. Frederick Henry Royce was born in 1863. His father’s milling business failed and he died when Frederick was nine. After only a year in school he gained an apprenticeship in the engineering sector and gained expertise in the embryonic electricity field, eventually entering into a partnership with Ernest Cleremont in 1884 to make electrical fittings.
0 Comments Karl Benz built the first car in 1885, and since then many thousands of companies have sprung up trying to make a name for themselves. But few have survived and here we take a look at how some of those survivors. Sometimes things are a lot more convoluted than you think though, with some companies claiming two (or even three) first cars…
Mercedes-Benz (1886) This is where it all started – the first company to build a car. Karl Benz built his first car in 1885 and he patented it in January 1886, but the
Mercedes name wouldn t be adopted until 1901. That first car (called the Patent Motorwagen, pictured here) had just three wheels and a 0.75hp 954cc single-cylinder engine, but in 1893 Benz built his first four-wheeler, the Viktoria, powered by a 3hp 1745cc engine.