24/09/2023
ON BERTHA`S TRACKS
Part 4
One early July morning in 1888, they started off together in secret - to make the world´s first long-distance journey by car. The story goes that Carl Benz was still asleep when the three of them got the motor car out of the shed and started off on their journey.
The boys knew how the conveyance worked - they had long been automobile fans. Most likely the first in the world. After all, the word "automobile" hadn't even been invented yet.
Fantastic tales abound about this adventure. Up to now, Carl Benz had only undertaken test drives. He had chugged past the water tower that was being built at the time on the city ring road in Mannheim - today it´s a famous landmark there - in the direction pf the railway station. He was also supposed to have ventured a few kilometres into the countryside towards Ladenburg and Odenwald, though he avoided the hills because his motor car wasn't yet fully capable of going up hill and down dale. And now along came the three intrepid adventurers. They weren't able to avoid hills.
Photos: .d.seufert
