Why did Bertha Benz make her long-distance drive in 1888?

Bertha Benz's long-distance drive

Bertha Benz fährt nach Pforzheim

August 1888. In January 1886 Carl Benz had patented his motor car in Mannheim, but hardly anyone wanted to buy one.

Where: Germany

What happened

In January 1886 Carl Benz had patented his motor car in Mannheim, but hardly anyone wanted to buy one. In August 1888 his wife Bertha took the car without telling him and drove about 106 kilometres to her home town of Pforzheim with her two teenage sons. On the way she bought fuel, a cleaning spirit called ligroin, at a pharmacy in Wiesloch, made repairs with a hatpin and a garter, and had a cobbler put new leather on the brakes. It was the first long journey by car, and it showed that the car could work. The route is now a tourist road, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.

Say it

Bertha Benz fuhr 1888 mit dem Auto von Mannheim nach Pforzheim.

In 1888 Bertha Benz drove by car from Mannheim to Pforzheim.

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