Benz Duc Victoria

The paint, the upholstery, the leather roof and the solid rubber tires of this Benz Duc Victoria are all more than a century old. That makes it one of the most authentic cars to be found anywhere in the world.

Moreover, this is the only known surviving example of this model. Country doctor Christopher Frank Wakefield from Horley in the English county of Surrey bought this car in 1900. Until 1914 Wakefield used the car to visit his patients, and after that he still took it out for a drive from time to time. In 1925 the Benz was put into storage and almost 45 years later, in 1969, the car resurfaced. All it needed to get it running again was a new spark plug and drive belts. The single cylinder engine has an open crankshaft that has to be lubricated every 30 kilometers. There is no camshaft; the intake valve is operated by a spring. The engine power is transmitted to the gearbox by leather belts and from there to the wheels by a chain. In 1989 the car joined the collection of the Louwman Museum. Until then the car had been owned by the doctors family, for almost ninety years.