Which car is really the oldest in the world is a complicated question to answer. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen is often referred to as the oldest car, but there are older car-like creations. Perhaps this mysterious vehicle found in Germany is even older. This is now being investigated.
Members of the Ost-Klassiker Klub from Wolkramshausen made a special find this spring in a residential area in Leipzig in former East Germany. In a dark corner of a garage, among a pile of junk, they discovered a vehicle with an internal combustion engine and three wheels. The German Hubert Rein bought the vehicle for a few hundred euros from the widow who lived in the villa. The car in question may be much older than thought. According to experts, the model is older than the Benz patent car. Forensic experts are now going to use carbon dating to investigate the exact year from which the model dates, the German broadcaster writes MDR.
One of the indications that the car is even older than the Benz is that the chassis of this vehicle is made of wood, while the frame of Carl Benz’s Patent-Motorwagen already has a tubular steel frame. With renowned experts in the field of classic cars unable to figure it out, physicists and forensic experts are now taking a closer look at the tricycle. Trace elements in the metal could reveal the time of processing. Remnants of fabric and leather are also examined. This radiocarbon dating – also called C14 – was also used, among other things, to discover how long ago the primeval man ‘Ötzi’ found in the Alps lived. According to the German picture a team of five scientists is working on the car.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl