Eugen Carl Benz (1873 - 1958)

Born 1 May 1873 in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Amalie (Hettesheimer) Benz — married 2 Dec 1911 in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland

Died 9 Mar 1958 at age 84 in Ladenburg, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Biography

Eugen Benz is Notable.

Eugen Carl Benz was born on 1 May 1873 in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He was the son of Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant (1844–1929) and Cäcilie Bertha Ringer (1849–1944).^[1] He was baptized on 13 July 1873 in the Mannheim Parish, Mannheim, Preußen, Baden.^[2]

His father invented what is largely considered the first automobile, the Benz Patent Motor Car, with a single-cylinder four-stroke engine. It debuted in public on 3 July 1886 on the Ringstrasse in Mannheim, with 10-tear-old Eugen running alongside with a fuel bottle "to refill when the petrol runs out".^[3]

In August 1888, Eugen and Richard accompanied their mother Bertha Benz in a 180 km round-trip drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim in the Benz Patent "Model 3" motor car. This first long-distance journey in the history of the automobile, started while a sleeping Carl Benz (whom authorities had banned from driving because it frightened horses^[4]) was unaware, is considered a pioneering achievement,^[5] without which the development of the automobile would probably not have gotten off the ground so quickly.^[4]

Eugen graduated from high school and attended the Technical University in Darmstadt. In 1896, he joined Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik (also known as Benz & Cie.), the company founded by his father, as a production engineer. Benz & Co. had been granted Patent No. 37 436 on 29 January 1886 for the Benz Patent Motor Car, and by the turn of the century had become the world's leading automobile manufacturer. ^[6]

Eugen Benz participated in the then sensational long-distance car journey Paris-Marseille-Paris with a "Benz-vis-à-vis". He spent some time at Swiss engine and mechanical engineering companies and then returned to Benz & Cie. where he developed, among other things, the first naturally aspirated gas engines built in Germany.^[7]

In 1899, Benz & Cie. was converted into a stock corporation and Eugen became an authorized signatory. Benz & Cie. developed the first of a series of racing cars and Eugen founded the Rhenish Automobile Club, of which he remained its first chairman for many years. Under his leadership, the races to Pforzheim, the Königstuhl hill climbs, and many reliability races took place. In 1901 he personally won the Heidelberg-Königstuhl race^[7] and the Mannheim-Pforzheim-Mannheim in the touring car division^[8].

When his father Carl left Benz & Cie. in 1903 due to friction with his partner Julius Ganss, Eugen and Richard left with him.^[9] But when Carl Benz returned to Benz & Cie. as a consultant in 1904, they returned.

In 1906, Eugen, together with his father Carl and younger brother Richard, founded the firm Carl Benz Söhne in Ladenburg.^[10]

Eugen Carl Benz (38) married Marie Amalie Hettesheimer (34) (born on 4 July 1877 in Mannheim) on 2 December 1911 in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg.^[11] They were the parents of:

• Anneliese BENZ Elbe (1913-1996)
• Carl Benz (1916–1999).

Founder Carl Frederich Benz retired from the company C. Benz Söhne as shareholder in 1912 to join the supervisory board of Benz & Cie. Eugen succeeded Carl as general partner, and with Richard took over management. Until the First World War, C. Benz Söhne essentially offered only one car model, which was constantly being further developed. From 1913 onwards, attempts were made to produce vehicles with Hanriot valve engines. These engines, whose gas exchange was controlled by roller gate valves instead of valves, were a further development of the sleeve gate motor based on the ideas of Charles Yale Knight. However, there was no series production of these vehicles.^[10]

After World War I, passenger car production resumed with the pre-war models but was finally discontinued in 1923/24 due to a lack of economy. The company then focused on automotive supply until discontinued in 2010.^[10]

Richard and Eugen Benz received the 1955 Rudolf Diesel Medaille^[12] of the German Institute for Inventions, Europe's oldest innovation prize, on behalf of their father. It is presented annually to entrepreneurs and companies who have demonstrated their inventiveness on the one hand and their ability to successfully implement ideas in an entrepreneurial manner on the other.

Eugen Carl Benz died on 9 March 1958 in Ladenburg, Mannheim, Baden, Germany, aged 84.^[13] He was buried in Ladenburg.^[14]

Research Notes

1. 9 May 2023: could not find specified Daimler link "Founders and pioneers Eugen Benz"^[15] or equivalent on Mercedes-Benz AG website due to recent company reorganization and ongoing changes to new entity websites. Recommend further research.
2. Found old Der Spiegel article "http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44415980.html" about Eugen and Richard Benz as poor quality PDF on Wayback Machine in German. Will attach.

Sources

1. ↑ Mannheim, Germany, Births, 1870-1900 for Eugen Carl Benz - Mannheim - 1873 - 1 May 1873 - Certificate Number: 623, Reference Number: Geburtsregister MA-Stadt.
2. ↑ Eugen Karl Benz in the Baden and Hesse Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1502-1985 - Mannheim Parish - Page 338:339.
3. ↑ Mercedes-Benz Group Media. 2009. The world's first automobile is a tricycle. 1. October. Zugriff am 9. May 2023. https://group-media.mercedes-benz.com/marsMediaSite/de/instance/ko/Das-erste-Automobil-der-Welt-ist-ein-Dreirad.xhtml?oid=9908369.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Grünweg, Tom. 2011. An interview with Jutta Benz: "A Mercedes-Benz was too expensive for me". 29. January. Zugriff am 9. May 2023. https://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/jutta-benz-im-gespraech-ein-mercedes-benz-war-mir-zu-teuer-a-742293.html.
5. ↑ Daimler Communications. 2008. August 1888: Bertha Benz takes world’s first long-distance trip in an automobile. Herausgeber: Josef Ernst. 27. June. Zugriff am 5. May 2023. https://group-media.mercedes-benz.com.
6. ↑ Mercedes-Benz Group website https://group.mercedes-benz.com/ > Company > Tradition > Founders & Pioneers > Carl Benz
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Entry "Benz, Eugen" in Munzinger Online/Personen - Internationales Biographisches Archiv, URL: http://www.munzinger.de/document/00000018986 (accessed from not registered on 9.5.2023) All rights reserved. © Munzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg.
8. ↑ (Administrator), Vitesse2. 2003. Autosport - The Nostalgia Forum. 17. August. Zugriff am 9. May 2025. https://forums.autosport.com/topic/59995-minor-town-to-town-races-1898-1905/.
9. ↑ Daimler Communications. 2011. „Benz & Cie. and motor racing.“ Mercedes-Benz Group Media. 10. November. Zugriff am 9. May 2023. https://group-media.mercedes -benz.com:443/marsMediaSite/Media/d9gq3yqm81k85obCs2S83655nHU04jv0Z69gLqyO81R80bBXC9194nVo6j81kq9E/56300088.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} Wikipedia authors (29). 2022. C. Benz Söhne. 15. October. Zugriff am 9. May 2023. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Benz_S%C3%B6hne
11. ↑ Mannheim, Germany, Marriages, 1870-1920 for Eugen Carl Benz - Mannheim - 1911 (1220-1569) - Certificate Number: 1431, Title: Heiratsregister MA-Stadt (Nr. 1220 - 1580), Archive Sequence Number: 189, Volume: 4.
12. ↑ Deutsches Institut für Erfindungswesen e.V. (German Institute for Inventions) - Rudolf Diesel Medaille - Overview of the Award Winners -1955: https://rudolf-diesel-medaille.de/preistraeger/?_sf_s=1955&_sfm_jahr_preistraeger=1953+2019
13. ↑ Obituary for Eugen Benz in The Oshkosh Northwestern, Oshkosh, Wisconsin · Tuesday, March 11, 1958 - Page 10.
14. ↑ "Deutschland, ausgewählte evangelische Kirchenbücher 1500-1971," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPDT-TX1Z : 14 March 2023), Eugen Karl Benz, 11 Mar 1958; images digitized and records extracted by Ancestry; citing Burial, Ladenburg, Mannheim, Baden, Deutschland, , German Lutheran Collection, various parishes, Germany.
15. ↑ Information about Eugen Benz on Daimler.com Founders and pioneers Eugen Benz.