← Continued from Page 1 of "The Historic Benz"THE HISTORIC DRIVE
The first real test drive of the model, however, was conducted, without Benz's knowledge (at least, this is how the myth goes), by his wife. Proud of the invention of her husband, which she financed, Bertha decided to take the vehicle for a drive, accompanied by the couple's sons, Eugen and Richard.
Her trip, which would become the first long-distance automobile drive, took place in 1888, covered a little over 100 km (some 60 miles), started in Mannheim and ended in Pforzheim. Because on the return trip Bertha chose another route, the entire length of the world's first long distance drive by automobile is 194 km (121 miles).
During the drive, Bertha acted as a mother, driver and mechanic at the same time. The trip was filled with problems, starting from the lack of fuel and ending with brake issues (resolved by replacing the linings in Bauschlott/Neulingen).
The fuel problem was solved by Bertha in Wiesloch. The car ran on Ligroin, a refined saturated hydrocarbon similar to petroleum ether, used as a cleaning product, a substance that at the time was only to be found at pharmacies. The local pharmacy in Wiesloch hence got the honor of becoming the world's first gas station, if it can be called that, in the history of mankind.
The route which Bertha followed over a century ago became a tourist attraction in 2008, when German authorities set up the Bertha Benz Memorial Route: Mannheim, Mannheim-Feudenheim, Ilvesheim,
Ladenburg, Schriesheim, Dossenheim, Heidelberg, Leimen, Nußloch, Wiesloch, Mingolsheim, Langenbrücken, Stettfeld, Ubstadt, Bruchsal, Untergrombach, Weingarten, Karlsruhe-Grotzingen, Berghausen, Söllingen, Kleinsteinbach, Wilferdingen, Königsbach, Stein, Eisingen, Pforzheim.
The same year when Bertha began her historic, but mostly forgotten trip, Benz himself started pondering the idea of making some money out of his innovation. In 1888, he began selling the Motorwagen; the vehicle thus became the first automobile in history to become commercially available. Ironically, most of the units were sold in France, thanks to the efforts of Emile Roger, a man who had already been selling Benz gas engines in Paris. Out of the total 69 units produced by 1893, 41 were sold in France; the reason was simple: Germans were not interested.
“It was only after Roger had made this innovation known in Paris and imported and sold several cars there – among them one sold to Panhard & Levassor as early as 1888 – that we were able to start production, and from then on, we had a lot of work,” wrote Benz in a letter to the director of the South Kensington Museum in London in 1914.
The video below is the Super Bowl commercial launched to celebrate the 125th anniversary since the birth of the Motorwagen.
After the commercial success of the Motorwagen, the success of the Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik was insured. The first car in the world was followed by the introduction of the first production automobile, the Velo, in 1894. One year later, the world's first passenger bus set off for the first time from Siegen to Deuz.
The rest, as you know, is history. Still in the making.
Her trip, which would become the first long-distance automobile drive, took place in 1888, covered a little over 100 km (some 60 miles), started in Mannheim and ended in Pforzheim. Because on the return trip Bertha chose another route, the entire length of the world's first long distance drive by automobile is 194 km (121 miles).
During the drive, Bertha acted as a mother, driver and mechanic at the same time. The trip was filled with problems, starting from the lack of fuel and ending with brake issues (resolved by replacing the linings in Bauschlott/Neulingen).
The route which Bertha followed over a century ago became a tourist attraction in 2008, when German authorities set up the Bertha Benz Memorial Route: Mannheim, Mannheim-Feudenheim, Ilvesheim,
The same year when Bertha began her historic, but mostly forgotten trip, Benz himself started pondering the idea of making some money out of his innovation. In 1888, he began selling the Motorwagen; the vehicle thus became the first automobile in history to become commercially available. Ironically, most of the units were sold in France, thanks to the efforts of Emile Roger, a man who had already been selling Benz gas engines in Paris. Out of the total 69 units produced by 1893, 41 were sold in France; the reason was simple: Germans were not interested.
“It was only after Roger had made this innovation known in Paris and imported and sold several cars there – among them one sold to Panhard & Levassor as early as 1888 – that we were able to start production, and from then on, we had a lot of work,” wrote Benz in a letter to the director of the South Kensington Museum in London in 1914.
The video below is the Super Bowl commercial launched to celebrate the 125th anniversary since the birth of the Motorwagen.
After the commercial success of the Motorwagen, the success of the Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik was insured. The first car in the world was followed by the introduction of the first production automobile, the Velo, in 1894. One year later, the world's first passenger bus set off for the first time from Siegen to Deuz.
The rest, as you know, is history. Still in the making.
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