Nordhausen / Leipzig – For weeks, car experts and scientists from all over Germany have been puzzling around the motor tricycle from the “Ost Klassiker Klub” in Wolkramshausen (Thuringia) – perhaps the oldest car in the world. Now retired Wolfgang Perschmann (83) from Leipzig has discovered a first hot lead in the classic car puzzle!
The BILD reader: “It was pure coincidence. While tidying up my garage, I was leafing through an old booklet from a 1966 rally in Prague. Suddenly I recognized the car that was in BILD the day before. “
This is how the oldtimer stands today at the “Ost Klassiker Klub” in Wolkramshausen
The pensioner had kept the yellowed memento because his late father had also driven in the race!
Club boss Hubert Rein (69) confirms that it is the car that he bought from a widow in Leipzig for a few hundred euros in March. The illustration in the 55-year-old program booklet therefore corresponds to the sensational find. A big step in the riddle hunt!
On page 11 of the brochure you can see the motor tricycle with year of construction, driver and manufacturer information
The inscription under the photo, however, again causes confusion among the experts. “Mathis” is there as the manufacturer. And the year 1897. Club boss Hubert Rein says: “We did some research. Emile Mathis was just 17 years old in 1897. He only founded his company in 1898, when he was 18 years old. “
Was the vehicle built by a 17-year-old from Strasbourg before the company was founded? A prototype? It would be a sensational achievement.
If that were the solution to the riddle, the Leipzig fund would only be the second winner in car construction. Benz would have been faster.
The 83-year-old Wolfgang Perschmann has provided a hot lead to the classic car mystery, but nothing more than that. The new owners can continue to dream of the oldest car in the world …
.