When was the first Präsident made?

Zbeckabee

The Präsident was an automobile manufactured by Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriks-Gesellschaft A.G. (NW, now known as Tatra) in 1897. It was the first actually driveable factory made petrol-engined automobile produced in Austria-Hungary as well as in Central and Eastern Europe (save the attempt of Siegfried Marcus of Vienna to build a self-propelled car in 1875). It was constructed by Leopold Sviták and Hans Ledwinka. The automobile was more of a carriage without horses than a car in modern sense. The car is steered via handlebars (while most of the cars of the era had a clique). The wooden carrossery is placed on an iron frame. It has four seats and a convertible top that would cover only the rear seats. Both axles have suspension of semielliptical leaf springs. The wheels were similar to the ones of a horse carriage, but it had a gum tyre. The car had a two cylinder spark ignition Benz engine placed by the rear axle. The company's director Hugo Fischer bought from Carl Benz one Benz Phaeton automobile as well as a latest Benz engine; this was instignated by Baron Theodor Liebig of Liberec, whose 2,500 km (1,600 mi) drive of 1894 around Europe without any major difficulties brought fame to Benz Viktoria and consequent Carl Benz's gratitude. The Phaeton was used as a model for construction of the factory's first car in 1897, however it isn't the Phaeton's copy, whole new conception was applied. Leopold Sviták, the factory's foreman, was head of the construction works. The automobile was named the Präsident; the construction was finished in May 1898. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A4sident#History Nov 28 10, 8:37 PM