The Long History Of Mercedes-Benz To Indonesia

JAKARTA - Mercedes-Benz still dominates the automotive market, as a luxury car from Germany. Obviously, not a few citizens of the world have dreams of being able to own a luxury car from A Class, B or up to the latest SLK AMG series which costs billions of rupiah.

Unfortunately, dreams alone won't be enough because it takes a lot more effort than usual, if you want to bring home a collection or two of this luxury car from Germany. Why not, talking about Marcedes-Benz today, of course, brings luxury, comfort, innovation, and high prices in each car.

However, people would not have thought that in order to occupy the current position, Mercedes-Benz had come a long way, which made its owner, Karl Benz, fall and fall in building the image of this luxury car company.

Long before that luxury, a man whose full name was Karl Friedrich Benz, was born in Mhlburg-Karlsruhe, Germany, on November 25, 1844. Born as an orphan, little Benz grew up following in the footsteps of his father who was a railroad engineer.

Benz received his education in mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe on September 30, 1860. During his college days, Benz became fascinated with machines. He also started his first career as a technician repairing watches and clocks.

Only after that, Benz helped build a photo studio that asked for a dark room as a place to print vacation photos from tourists visiting Schwarzwald, a city close to where he lived.

Benz has one dream, he intends to create a 'carriage without horses'. At that time the horse was the only vehicle for pulling a cart or cart, other than steam trains for long-distance travel.

At the same time, Benz began doing his research while working at a train and pump company in Mannheim, Germany, in 1871. Based on this, Benz founded the Mannheim Gas Engine Manufacturing Company, which aimed to develop a 'horseless carriage' but failed.

Failure after failure came at his next venture in October 1883, where he founded a company called "Benz and Company." Until right in 1885, he made his debut to make a motorized car with a revolutionary tricycle called the Benz Patent-Motorwegen and that's where the door to early success began to stalk his life.

World's First Car

Right in 1886, Karl Benz filed a patent for a three-wheeled motor vehicle which he created in Berlin. His move made him famous throughout the world for being able to realize his dream of giving birth to a "horseless carriage" which now takes the form of the world's first car.

At that time, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen had become a pioneering symbol of the spirit of perfection. In time, this three-wheeled motorized vehicle became the driving force that marked the birth of a new era. In fact, it did not take long for Benz and Gottlieb Daimler - founder of Marcedes Benz - to also make the first four-wheeled motorized vehicle.

Prihal of Benz Patent-Motorwagen power, of course, cannot be equated with the current era. At that time, the power was still sourced from the 954 cc single-cylinder, four-stroke engine. The interesting thing, however, lies in the design of the vehicle, which has the main feature of most of the current internal combustion engines.

Including the crankshaft (crankshaft) with a counterweight, electric ignition and water cooling, so this car can produce a maximum power of 0.55 kW at 400 / minute.

If using that period standard. The machine is very light, especially with a weight of only about 100 kilograms. In addition, the presence of other distinctive features such as an open crankcase, an intake valve that can be shifted with an eccentric handle, a drain valve operated by a cam disc, a valve trigger and pushrod, and using a drip lubrication system is a revolutionary form of its era.

The cool thing is, the Benz design has used very large wheels mounted horizontally on the chassis, because he was concerned that the gyroscopic effect of the vertical installation would interfere with the steering and stability of the vehicle.

Obviously, this first car was a revolutionary work, as it only took about 10 liters of gasoline for every 100 kilometers traveled. And for anyone who is curious about this car, a replica of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen can be seen from February 8 to 15, 2020 in an exhibition entitled "The journey to 50 years of success of Mercedes-Benz in Indonesia" at the National Museum of Indonesia. So, make sure you see one of the historical cars in the world firsthand.

Milestones in the history of Mercedes-Benz in Indonesia

Benz Victoria Phaeton is a Marcedes-Benz car that first felt the asphalt of the archipelago in 1894.The surprising thing was not from the splash of funds used to import the car from Europe which was worth 10,000 guilders through Pröttle & Co., a company located in Big Passer. in Surabaya.

Moreover, because those who order cars are Indonesians. Who else but the Sultan of Surakarta, Pakoe Boewono X, who at that time was very interested in the "horseless carriage" with 5 hp, single cylinder engine with 2.0 liter displacement and equipped with hard rubber tires.

An interesting sight was seen when this car was first paved. Many of the Javanese were really amazed to see a carriage running alone and without being pulled by a horse. So that people in Java call it the Demon Train.

After that, only 13 years later was followed by another vehicle from Mercedes-Benz, namely in 1907. The vehicle was named Britze Daimler, which was powered by a 45 hp 4-cylinder engine. And again, this car is also the property of Pakoe Boewono X.

From there, one by one, the initial series of Mercedes-Benz to the newest series, gradually began to pave in all corners of Indonesia. At the same time, this milestone, at least has proven that the dream of "horse-less carriage" ala Benz can really come true, and continues to innovate until now.