About 10 km from here the first motorcar was invented, built and tried out. Carl Benz had his workshop in Mannheim and lived in Ladenburg. He developed the first practical car but was apparently loath to try it out on more than a few hundred meters when one fine summer’s day in 1888 his wife unbeknown to her husband loaded up her two barely teenage boys and drove 105 km to her parent’s house. She managed to transform a pharmacy on the way into the first petrol station and even repaired a blocked valve with her hat pin.

Today the Carl Benz Museum in Ladenburg houses many wonderful old and oldest models of Mercedes Benz cars.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Inventions