GTP Cool Wall: 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen

[Slash]

Sub zero because even people that aren't into cars would stare at you.

 

[Roger the Horse]

People who aren't into cars would stare at you if you were in one of these as well:

 

[Azure Flare]

@Roger the Horse It's something made by Spyker, of course I would stare at it.

 

[Dean]

It's iconic indeed, but it's not cool in my opinion. I voted uncool.

 

[Harry6784]

People who aren't into cars would stare at you if you were in one of these as well:

I would daily that EVERYWHERE

 

[Wiegert]

I think you missed the point. Like I said, it's cool simply because of its position in history... I don't think it would be a stretch to call it revolutionary. Some vehicles are SZ forever on significance alone, this is one of them. Just as wouldn't have air travel today without the Wright Brothers' first rickety contraptions, we wouldn't have cars to call cool and uncool without this thing. It's cool because it's the beginning of it all.

I think you missed my point. As I said, its greatness can't be denied. Though I don't believe its position is enough to make it cool. Some of us know the difference. It's been brought up enough times by this point.

If you trundle along a street sat atop that thing today, you'd get stares aplenty because it's such a interesting machine in this day and age. Then again, you'd get just as many stares if you were a passenger in a horse-drawn carriage. I wouldn't say it was an aesthetic marvel either. Rather a curious-looking contraption with a noteworthy history. Which is great, and I can respect that fact. But it's not what myself and a number of others would consider cool.

 

[GTPorsche]

A 3-wheel horseless carriage.....

Seriously uncool.. historical value or not...

 

[homeforsummer]

Just as wouldn't have air travel today without the Wright Brothers' first rickety contraptions

While I understand what you're getting at, I can't say I agree. I don't find the Wright Flyer "cool" either, despite its significance - yet a P51 Mustang or a Spitfire, or Concorde, very much is. Age on its own doesn't automatically mean coolness, regardless of significance.

Sub zero because even people that aren't into cars would stare at you.

People not into hats would stare at you if you wore a Pickelhaube too, but that doesn't make it a cool piece of headwear.

 

[Tornado]

People not into hats would stare at you if you wore a Pickelhaube too, but that doesn't make it a cool piece of headwear.

 

[Joey D]

Uncool. It's historical sure, but history is seen as geeky or nerdy.

Also I don't really understand how if this vehicle hadn't been created we wouldn't have cars today. If Karl Benz hadn't done it, then some other person would have done it eventually.

 

[Tornado]

Like those two other German guys who were making one at the exact same time he was, no less.

 

[Wiegert]

Better not mention that electric car some English guy was throwing together a couple of years earlier.

 

[MoLiEG]

Voted Subzero because 1) I agree with @White & Nerdy, this car is beyond good or evil, cool or uncool...

&

2) to counter all the Seriously Uncool votes...

Still, this might be the only car that shouldn't be in the Cool Wall... it's so unique & special it doesn't need to be classified...

 

[Grand Prix]

This thing would probably have been seen as seriously uncool in the 1880s and 1890s. A penny farthing was a much cooler way of getting around, faster and much more dangerous.

As for today, well, I'm not sure what to think of it.

 

[Mikeybc]

It's certainly very interesting from a historical point of view but I can't see any coolness in it.

 

[DrPuppetwarrior]

Without this being designed we probably wouldn't have gtplanet today...

 

[GranTurismo916]

Without this being designed we probably wouldn't have gtplanet today...

I doubt it. There were attempts before this.

 

[Sage Ages]

Meh, unless you look like the guy @Tornado mentioned. That would be cool, but you don't look like that guy, so you'll just be a guy in the first car ever built*, which is neither cool, uncool, or meh. Honestly, I don't really know what the hell I should vote.

*You know what I meant.

 

[edawg456]

Even though it's seriously uncool. You can't deny history which cross out the seriously uncool and makes it sub zero.

 

[Zenith]

Even though it's seriously uncool. You can't deny history which cross out the seriously uncool and makes it sub zero.

No it doesn't. Having history doesn't make something cool. The Bubonic Plague is not cool.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Because the bubonic plague was a very, very bad thing.

If you're going to try to argue that the invention of the automotbile was a bad thing, why are you even here?

 

[niky]

That would mean something, if the Patent Motorwagen was the first car, and only if several other inventors were not pursuing the same goal at the same time.

This isn't like flight, where you're either flying, or falling... with style. This is going down the road under your own power. The Germans were the ones with the best engine in the best car at the time, but not the best engine per se. And this is nowhere near the first self-powered car. The automobile would have been invented whether or not Daimler and Benz built their cars. And probably not much later, either.

Same for flying, actually, though the Wrights were certainly well ahead of the curve in terms of aerodynamics.

-----

On the other hand, Ford's invention of the assembly line... that was well and truly revolutionary.

the first internal combustion engined car,

It wasn't. First practical one. Practical being a matter of opinion.

 

[Zenith]

Because the bubonic plague was a very, very bad thing.

If you're going to try to argue that the invention of the automotbile was a bad thing, why are you even here?

I'm not.

Edawg said it was historical which makes it sub zero. He is wrong.

Being historical does not make something cool. Being historical makes something historical. This car is historical, so is the bubonic plague.

Being cool makes something cool. This isn't just not cool, it's uncool. It's a dinosaur, and not in a good way. Driving this is as cool as bringing a printing press to Starbucks while everyone else is on laptops. It just makes you look silly. Although I feel like getting into a discussion about obsolescence with you might be a great way to derail another thread.

 

[Slash]

And because you disagree makes you right?

But that goes for almost anything anyone says in these threads, including me 👍

 

[SlipZtrEm]

And because you disagree makes you right?

Logic:

Being historical does not make something cool. Being historical makes something historical. This car is historical, so is the bubonic plague.

Being cool makes something cool.

There are plenty of historic landmark vehicles in automotive history that aren't cool. The Pinto (for the explosive nature), the Aztek (ahead of it's time in predicting the crossover phase), the Corolla (best-selling single nameplate ever)... You get the point. This wasn't the first car, that's just what people who get all their car knowledge from a video game think.

I'll echo HFS's statement on really wanting to experience this if I ever got the chance. But cool? Nope, you'd look the wrong sort of ridiculous taking it down the street. And I mean down, since a small incline might stop it.

 

[niky]

bringing a printing press to Starbucks while everyone else is on laptops

Zounds! An entire press? Howforth wouldst thou transport such a cumberfome appliance?

Let me introduce thee to an amazing contrapfion which we calleth a "portable movable type device":

Disclaimer: We used to own a printing press. And yes, we had moveable type printers. Pain in the arse to set up, and the tiny letters kept disappearing, and we still used it for odd jobs up to the turn of the century, as it was cheaper than having printing plates made for small batches of official receipts.

And yes, I used to type my homework on a typewriter.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Meh.

Yes. It's historically significant. Practically every car we drive today owes a lot to this car.
But there isn't much coolness about it, apparently you could only drive a few miles before it ran out of fuel.

 

[Zenith]

Zounds! An entire press? Howforth wouldst thou transport such a cumberfome appliance?

Let me introduce thee to an amazing contrapfion which we calleth a "portable movable type device":

I was originally going to use that but I felt it was an unfair comparison for the typewriter.

 

[E28]

Seriously Uncool, it's got a 1-speed, and everyone knows real drivers choose their own gears.

 

[Cano]

If you saw one driving down the street, I bet you'd stop whatever you're doing because it would look so incongruous in modern life, as it putters down the road at a few miles per hour.

I'd find that awesome hence, cool. Almost verging on sub-zero. Ironically, not sub-zero because of the same reasons.