First Long-Distance Test Driver Was A Woman

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30365, 14 February 1964, Page 9

First Long-Distance Test Driver Was A Woman

rpHE first long-distance test drive in motor history is closely associated with a woman’s name. Early one August morning 75 years ago Mrs Berta Benz, the wife of German auto pioneer Carl Benz, started out on a test drive from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back. She had the three-wheel machine with its one-cylinder motor stealthily brought out of the garage and set out on a great journey with her two sons, 15-year-old Eugen and 13-year-old Richard. She had not told her husband about her planned trip as he was much less convinced than she about the reliability of his first car. She believed he would not agree to let her go.

After many futile attempts, Carl Benz finally succeeded in 1880 in constructing the first successful two-stroke engine. Benz continued to, improve this first stationary motor which sold well. By 1885 he had gained the necessary finance to build his threewheeled car. After much painstaking detail work be was at last able to introduce his third model to the public at the Munich Trade Fair in the autumn of

1888. He wanted to increase the car’s running efficiency in daily drives through the city. But his wife and sons beat him to the first test drive. The two Benz boys had been well drilled by their' father in driving and handling a car. Tbeir greatest wish was to once go on a “big trip.” They knew their father would not agree to this so they turned to their mother—and were luckier.

Mrs Benz was convinced that a successful 125-mile trip from Mannheim down to Pforzheim and back again would give her husband new incentives for further improvement on his car. Should anything happen to them on the way this would not injure the famous constructor’s reputation because he had no previous knowledge of the trip. Many Difficulties Their adventurous undertaking did not fail, even though they had to overcome many obstacles. For instance, they ran out of petrol after 30 miles and the next pharmacist could only promise them two gallons, which he hoped to have within a week. So the three made do with the even smaller amounts they managed to buy from different pharmacists along the way. Cooling water had to be changed every 12 • miles and

the boys had to fetch it at farmhouses or in wayside ditches. Faulty ignition was repaired with mother’s garter and a hole in the petrol pipe was stopped with a hat pin. At each of these stops a large and astounded group of people Surrounded the “horseless carriage.” From 5 a.m. until late at night the Benz family drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim. They took a shorter way back and had considerably less trouble. When Carl Benz embraced his three travellers in Mannheim on their safe return it suddenly dawned on him that his wife and children had not only driven a long distance but they were the first to really test the car at all. Their reports were extremely instructive for him and he used the newly-gained experience for improving later models. Carl Benz never forgot that his wife was the world’s first long-distance car driver.