The World’s First Road Trip

Famous Women In Automotive History

Did you know there is an automotive hall of fame that gives awards to the most famous women in automotive history? It is as old as 1939 and it is located in the most famous city in American automotive history. Dearborn, Michigan is the name of the town and it’s Disney World for car enthusiasts. Every year, the Automotive Hall of Fame inducts four nominees for all sorts of automotive accomplishments. Some are engineers or inventors. Some are racecar drivers. Others are designers or simply advocates for the automotive industry.

Bertha Benz

Bertha Benz falls into the last category, but could be considered as all the above. She was heavily involved in the work of her husband, Carl Benz from day one and was one of the largest driving forces behind the globalization of the automobile for her 60-mile road trip in 1888.

60 Mile Road Trip in 1888

Twenty years before the introduction of the model T, Bertha Benz traveled 60 miles south from Mannheim to Pforzheim, which is near Stuttgart, Germany. With little to no supplies, Bertha and her sons Eugen and Richard literally snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, leaving only a note and an empty spot where Carl’s 1885 Motorwagen invention sat. Mind you, this equates to an S-Class of today. After pushing the world’s first automobile to a safe distance from the house like a teenager stealing her parent’s car (did you think you were the first to do that?), Bertha started the car and headed to her parent’s house, 66 miles away.

The First Automobile

Along the way, Bertha made minor innovations to the car, but the real success of the trip was the publicity it received, boosting sales of the Motorwagen and jump starting Mercedes-Benz. Apparently Carl wasn’t very savvy in the marketing department! If you have any questions about Bertha Benz or her journey, leave a comment below!