NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Taking the "Retro" trend to the ultimate, in 2002 Mercedez-Benz built a small line of exact, working replicas of the 1886 Patent-Motorwagen -- the one Karl Benz patented as the first automobile, according to the company.

Forty were sold in Europe and 60 in the United States, mostly to Mercedes-Benz dealerships. It turns out, there are a dozen more laying around that Mercedes-Benz plans to sell to Mercedes-Benz dealerships and car collectors, said Maryalice Ritzman, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz Classics, the division that built the cars.

The Patent-Motorwagen replicas are built according to the exact specifications of the original three-wheeled car. It had a water-cooled single cylinder four-stroke engine. The Patent-Motorwagen was controlled by a center steering crank and a hand brake. With its 0.75 horsepower engine it got 24 miles to the gallon and had a top speed of about 10 miles per hour.

Driving uphill was out of the question.

One difference from the original: The new ones run on gasoline while the originals ran on a less refined petroleum product called ligroin. Ordinary gasoline will not do, however, so Mercedes-Benz Classic Center will provide a special mixture.

The cars sold in 2002 went for about $50,000. The price this time will probably be somewhat higher, said Ritzman.

Also in 1886, after Benz had built and driven his automobile, Gottleib Daimler was granted a patent for his own internal combustion engine and began construction of a four-wheeled automobile. Neither Benz nor Daimler was aware of the other's work at the time.

The companies founded by Daimler and Benz merged in 1926 to become Daimler-Benz. That company merged with Chrysler in 1998 to form today's DaimlerChrysler.

Mercedes-Benz Classics, based in Fellbach, Germany, services and repairs classic Mercedes-Benz cars. A U.S. Mercedes-Benz Classics center is scheduled to open in California in 2005.