When was the first long car trip?

Currently, there are many ways to travel fast and far. We are of course thinking of the plane, the train as well as the car, of course. But if it seems obvious today, it was not really the case during the last centuries. And for long journeys, the only solution was usually the horse-drawn carriage. Then, the car finally arrived, revolutionizing mobility and making it easier to travel anywhere in the world. But in its early days, the car was confined to short trips, because of its fairly average reliability all the same.

Fuel, tolls, additional costs, the journeys to leave are overpriced.

We’re talking about it this morning @pascalperri on @LCI pic.twitter.com/9woqpmc22p

— La Matinale LCI (@LaMatinaleLCI) July 8, 2022

A great first

But then, when was the real first long journey by car? To find out, you have to go back to the 19th century, and more precisely to 1888. At that time, Karl Benz, the founder of Mercedes-Benz was at an impasse. Indeed, he only managed to sell two copies of his Railcar In two years. Indeed, no one is convinced by its creation, because everyone doubts its reliability. It must be said that this is one of the first cars with a gasoline engine, and it is understandable that the public is not necessarily very confident. But his wife will change the situation.

A long trip

Berta Benz decides to take the wheel of this famous Motorwagen and she leaves for a journey of 100 kilometers which was not easy. The trip lasted about twelve hours, at an average speed of about 8 km/h. The brave pioneer was even able to unclog the tank with a needle and repair the engine using her garter. As a result, the public was won over and more than 600 copies of the car were sold the following year.

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