Production chronology1899–1900
Sourced production or model lifecycle range used by the main catalog timeline.
curated ↗2 years
← Cudell
Cudell / Model record
CudellPatentwagen 3/3½ HP
Production1899–1900
Recorded originGermany
ClassVeteran passenger automobile or light commercial vehicle
Power3.5 hp
Cudell's first securely documented four-wheel automobile, shown as a Patentmotorwagen at the 1899 Berlin exhibition and built under Cudell's German De Dion-Bouton patent rights. The seamless tubular chassis carried a rear engine, pump-assisted water cooling with a front-axle radiator, pneumatic tyres and a light vis-à-vis body whose forward bench could also face the direction of travel. Period dimensions were 1,360 mm wheelbase, 2,050 mm overall length and 1,160 mm height at about 260 kg. The 3 hp launch rating became 3¼, 3½ or 3–4 hp in contemporary reporting without establishing separate chassis models. Standard price was 3,750 marks and the double-sprung form 4,150 marks. Freight bodies and a 0.35-ton claim were configurations of this Patentwagen rather than a second mechanical model.
Chronology ledger
Dates with their meaning intact
Record depth — Documented
How this is measured → This record contains useful sourced evidence, but it does not yet meet the reference-ready standard. Still needed: attributed imagery. Fields we cannot source stay empty rather than guessed.
Research notes
No Cudell chassis ledger or generation total survives; period exhibition and sales evidence proves marketed production but not quantity.