Vintage car enthusiasts from across the world are heading to Coimbatore to pick up replicas of the Benz Motorwagen
Vintage cars have always been a passion for Diljeet Titus. And like many other enthusiasts, he was always fascinated by the 1886 Benz Motorwagen, famously known as the first horseless carriage. "I have 70 vintage cars. But it was always my dream to own a Motorwagen,'' says Titus, owner of the Titus Museum for Transportation and Collectibles in Delhi. But Karl Benz stopped production less than a decade after the first car - considered the granddaddy of the automobile - rolled out of Manheim in Germany. Its water-cooled, rear-mounted engine produced less than one horsepower at 400 revolutions per minute, and had a top speed of 16km an hour. A lone Benz Motorwagen now stands at the Benz Museum at Stuttgart. And it's not for sale. In April this year, Titus' dream came true when he got the keys to a Benz Motorwagen, a 100% replica which was rolled out from the workshop of auto parts manufacturer UMS Technologies Ltd in Coimbatore. Known for its motorsports tracks and an emerging auto parts hub, the city now has vintage car enthusiasts flocking from all over the world to pick up replicas. UMS Technologies has sold 22 cars so far, 17 of them to car collectors abroad. (The manufacturers prefer to not disclose its price).
G D Gopal, chairman of the firm and owner of Gedee Car Museum, first saw the original car at a German museum in 2001. Soon after returning, he constituted a team of engineers and students to work on a replica. "This car is the building block of automobile engineering and design. An aspiring automobile or mechanical engineer should know how it was designed. That's why I wanted students to be a part of this project," says Gopal.
But the task of redesigning the world's first car was not easy. "We didn't have the liberty to alter the design or specifications,'' says N Ramaraj, assistant general manager of operations at the company. "The most complicated was the benzene-fuelled steam engine, which came as a single iron cast unit with a water jacket. We had to take an X-ray to find out the specifications of the engine interiors,'' he says. Tyres were another challenge as thickness had to be accurate to the last millimeter. Every nut and bolt was made according to the specifications of the original Motorwagen. Since the paints available in the market did not match what Karl Benz had used, the team made their own paint. "Most cars are painted after assembly. But for this car, every part was painted before being assembled,'' says Rajkumar V, who painted the car.
Inside the warehouse, a special assembly and design unit was installed over 6,000 sq ft. The unit has three major sections - design, painting and assembly. It takes the team about a month to make one car. Painting takes another 12-14 days. Gopal says the team started working on the project in September 2012, and the first replica took seven months to make. After carrying out a series of tests, an automobile expert was invited to review the car. The visitor was so impressed that he placed an order for a few cars. After about nearly 120 years since the production of the car stopped, its replica rolled out from the workshop.
"To me, this car is a recreation of history. To be able to see it is a privilege in itself, and the opportunity to drive the beauty is a lifetime feat," says Manvendra Singh Rana of Barwani, Indore. The vintage car collector flagged off a 500-km journey in a replica Motorwagen from Coimbatore recently.
Gopal and his team are presently working on making licensed replicas of the Henry Ford Quadricycle, made in 1896. "It is in the final stages of testing," says Gopal.
Vintage cars have always been a passion for Diljeet Titus. And like many other enthusiasts, he was always fascinated by the 1886 Benz Motorwagen, famously known as the first horseless carriage. "I have 70 vintage cars. But it was always my dream to own a Motorwagen,'' says Titus, owner of the Titus Museum for Transportation and Collectibles in Delhi. But Karl Benz stopped production less than a decade after the first car - considered the granddaddy of the automobile - rolled out of Manheim in Germany. Its water-cooled, rear-mounted engine produced less than one horsepower at 400 revolutions per minute, and had a top speed of 16km an hour. A lone Benz Motorwagen now stands at the Benz Museum at Stuttgart. And it's not for sale. In April this year, Titus' dream came true when he got the keys to a Benz Motorwagen, a 100% replica which was rolled out from the workshop of auto parts manufacturer UMS Technologies Ltd in Coimbatore. Known for its motorsports tracks and an emerging auto parts hub, the city now has vintage car enthusiasts flocking from all over the world to pick up replicas. UMS Technologies has sold 22 cars so far, 17 of them to car collectors abroad. (The manufacturers prefer to not disclose its price).
G D Gopal, chairman of the firm and owner of Gedee Car Museum, first saw the original car at a German museum in 2001. Soon after returning, he constituted a team of engineers and students to work on a replica. "This car is the building block of automobile engineering and design. An aspiring automobile or mechanical engineer should know how it was designed. That's why I wanted students to be a part of this project," says Gopal.
But the task of redesigning the world's first car was not easy. "We didn't have the liberty to alter the design or specifications,'' says N Ramaraj, assistant general manager of operations at the company. "The most complicated was the benzene-fuelled steam engine, which came as a single iron cast unit with a water jacket. We had to take an X-ray to find out the specifications of the engine interiors,'' he says. Tyres were another challenge as thickness had to be accurate to the last millimeter. Every nut and bolt was made according to the specifications of the original Motorwagen. Since the paints available in the market did not match what Karl Benz had used, the team made their own paint. "Most cars are painted after assembly. But for this car, every part was painted before being assembled,'' says Rajkumar V, who painted the car.
Inside the warehouse, a special assembly and design unit was installed over 6,000 sq ft. The unit has three major sections - design, painting and assembly. It takes the team about a month to make one car. Painting takes another 12-14 days. Gopal says the team started working on the project in September 2012, and the first replica took seven months to make. After carrying out a series of tests, an automobile expert was invited to review the car. The visitor was so impressed that he placed an order for a few cars. After about nearly 120 years since the production of the car stopped, its replica rolled out from the workshop.
"To me, this car is a recreation of history. To be able to see it is a privilege in itself, and the opportunity to drive the beauty is a lifetime feat," says Manvendra Singh Rana of Barwani, Indore. The vintage car collector flagged off a 500-km journey in a replica Motorwagen from Coimbatore recently.
Gopal and his team are presently working on making licensed replicas of the Henry Ford Quadricycle, made in 1896. "It is in the final stages of testing," says Gopal.
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