- Mercedes-Benz Classic brought a reconstructed Benz delivery van to the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
- The van combines an original 1896 Benz Velociped chassis with a new body modelled on an 1899 example.
- A 1902 Mercedes-Simplex and a reproduction of the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen also appeared at the event.
An early delivery van with about 2.2kW on tap joined the veterans at this year’s London to Brighton run.
Mercedes-Benz Classic brought the Benz to the event on 1 November alongside a 1902 Mercedes-Simplex and a reproduction of the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen.
An 1896 chassis and an 1899 body
The van’s chassis dates to 1896 and began life as a Benz Velociped. The box body is new, built to the pattern of a delivery van sold in 1899 by Hewetson, a British Benz licensee. With its upright box and open driver’s seat, the Benz has the same basic division between driver and cargo as a modern delivery van, though there’s rather less room for parcels.
The period design could carry around 100kg in addition to the driver. Put another way, it could take four 25kg sacks on a delivery round, with about as much power as a household kettle.
The white Mercedes-Simplex puts those figures in perspective. It came just a few years after Hewetson’s van and had about 29kW, more than 13 times the Benz’s output. Its tonneau body was arranged for passengers, giving the pair quite different jobs as well as very different power figures. The three-wheeled Patent-Motorwagen reproduction takes the timeline back another decade, to Benz’s 1886 design.
The road to Brighton
More than 400 vehicles started this year’s run, which follows a route of about 100km to Brighton. Before the start in Hyde Park, organisers tore a red flag to commemorate the 1896 reform that raised the speed limit outside towns to about 22.5km/h. The Benz chassis was built in that same year, 1896.
