Between these two photos of the young Bertha Ringer in 1868 and Ms Bertha Benz lies the story of the first proper motorist. Bertha was married to Carl Benz who had invented this strange contraption – a motorised coach that drove without horse – and which he thought was not really a financial success. So he might have test driven the machine for a few hundred metres but it was Bertha who on an August morning loaded her two teenage sons who were on school holidays in the self-moving machine … let’s call it automobile for want of a better word … and without telling her husband she drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her parents. On this 100km drive she encountered a few problems, for one, she ran out of fuel and stopped at a chemist who had never sold so much of the stuff in one go (and incidentally became the first filling station). She had two more stops for minor repairs for which she found help at blacksmith along the way. And when a fuel pipe became blocked she opened it with her hatpin and she even used a garter to solve another problem. The drive was a success and she let her husband know by sending him a telegram after they had arrived. They made the return journey a few days later. Very obviously, she understood something about mechanics as well as marketing.

Photos curtesy of the Dr. Carl Benz Museum in Ladenburg.

FOWC with Fandango: Motorist

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