01-29-2025 - On This Day in Insane History

On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz patented the world's first practical automobile—the Benz Patent-Motorwagen—in Mannheim, Germany, forever altering human transportation and inadvertently setting the stage for rush hour traffic, road rage, and drive-thru restaurants. This three-wheeled contraption, powered by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine, was essentially a motorized carriage that looked more like a sophisticated bicycle than the sleek machines we know today. Benz's wife, Bertha, would later become automotive history's ultimate ride-or-die partner by taking the vehicle on the first long-distance automobile journey without her husband's knowledge, proving both the car's reliability and her own remarkable spirit of adventure. Her 66-mile trek from Mannheim to Pforzheim not only demonstrated the vehicle's capabilities but also provided crucial publicity and design feedback. Interestingly, she even solved mechanical problems along the way—including using her hat pin to clean a blocked fuel line—which would make modern mechanics weep with admiration. This patent moment marked the birth of what would become the global automotive industry, transforming human mobility from horse-powered to horsepower in one revolutionary stroke.