First car in Mallorca
Mallorca is a small territory, and the longest distance in a straight line that can be travelled by car is about 120 km. Even so, there are almost 600.000 cars and nearly 840.000 vehicles if we include motorcycles, vans, lorries, buses and others.
We have a very high density of traffic, but how and when did it all start? Well, in 1897, with the first motor car to arrive in Mallorca.
The era, context on the island and in Spain
At the end of the 19th century, the World was changing rapidly, particularly due to the technological advances. For example, in 1897 Marconi made the first radio transmission and the railway was expanding without restraint. In that same year, the railway line to the town of Felanitx (Mallorca) was inaugurated.
Politically things in Spain are complicated, as King Alfonso XIII is a minor and the country is under the regency of his mother, María Cristina of Habsburg. Mateo Sagasta is the president and has to deal with the colonial wars, especially the one in Cuba, which began in 1895, and is slowly blooding our country (Spain) dry.
In 1897 Mallorca was much less populated than it is today, with Palma having only 62.000 inhabitants and Valldemossa just 1.600.
The first car in Mallorca, ¿how did it arrive?
At the beginning of Spring, on 8 April 1897, the steamship “Lulio” belonging to the Isleña Marítima company arrived in Palma with a very special cargo. Something never before seen in the island: a car that did not need horses to move. It was something unprecedented, a German invention, that greatly attracted the attention of the Mallorcans of the times. It was a “Roger Benz”, made in France, but with almost all of its mechanics and components coming from the Benz Victoria.
The Benz-Victorias, what where they like?
It was the first car with four wheels made by the German company Benz & Co. It literally looks like a horse drawn carriage, but without horses.
They were no longer needed, as it had a sinlge-cylinder combustion engine mounted at the rear. It was manufactured from 1893 to 1900 and, depending on the variant, the engine could range from 1730 cm3 to 2915 cm3. However, for today’s standards, the power was very low, only between 3 and 6 horsepower.
The frame and spoked wheels were made of wood, and it was initially designed for two people, which was then called a “Phaeton” body. However, for an additional factory surcharge, a front bench seat could be installed to accommodate more passengers. Curiously, it did not have any kind of electrical lighting system,, but instead had a primitive set of brass lamps with oil and wicks inside.
For better performance, it already had a gear shift, with 2 or 3 speeds, depending on the version. All this allowed it to reach a maximum speed of up 25 kms por hora, aunque lo que resultaba complicado era conseguir el combustible necesario, y estar constantemente cargándolo de agua para ir enfriándolo, pues el sistema de refrigeración era muy rudimentario y consumía ingentes cantidades de agua. La puesta a punto, según la temperatura y humedad del ambiente, era también muy delicada y no al alcance de cualquier mecánico de la época, mucho menos en Mallorca.
Emile Roger, his cars
This French engineer had a small workshop in Paris and, since 1883, had been buying static petrol engines from Karl Benz. He later learn that Benz was making motorised carriages without horses, and immediately went to visit the German engineer in Mannheim.
It was 1887, Roger was fascinated by the invention and immediately bought one of these motorised vehicles from Benz. Infact, it is said that this was actually the first car Benz ever sold.
Between the two of them, they must have seen a lot of business potential, because they agreed that Roger would have exclusive sale rights for these machines in France.
However, the French public was not very fond of things made in Germany, and there were also very high import tariffs. So Roger decided to buy only the engines and certain key components from Benz and manufacture the cars himself at his facilities in France. In a clever play on words, he called them Roger-Benz, but made no mention of their German origin in advertising, the owner’s manual or on the vehicle itself.
Emile Roger made a fortune selling his cars, but it all came to an end in 1897 when his factory burnt down. Shortly afterwards, he also passed away, which is why Roger-Benz cars are such a rarity today.
Who was the buyer?
A wealthy businessman, Vicente Juan Ribas, third son of the founder (Vicente Juan Rosselló) of a large textile industry that came to have seven factories in Mallorca and more than 800 workers. They manufactured wool and cotton products and for years exported goods to five continents, with excellent profits.
His business required him to travel frequently, and while attending a trade fair in Paris in 1896, he saw a Roger-Benz on display and immediately ordered one.
First car in Mallorca, what happened with it?
After unloading it from the ship that had transported it from Marseille, Vicente Juan Ribas had it taken to a farm he owned. There, with more space available, he decided to start it up with the help of one of his trusted operators, a mechanic responsible for maintaining the textile machinery.
After a few initial attempts, they managed to start it up. That infernal machine rattled, smoked, made noises and false explosions that frightened many of those present. But it worked and it was able to drive along the roads for a little while, although only for a few minutes. Then it stopped and there was no way to start it again, despite all the mechanic’s efforts.
Vicente Juan Ribas sought out other mechanics on the island and also in France, but without any positive results. It was a very sophisticated machine for its time, difficult to tune up properly, as well as being very delicate. It had a tendency to overheat and therefore needed a lot of water to cool down properly. Fed up with all these problems, its owner put the car away and never used it again.
Today, more than 125 years later, it is still in the hands of its family here in Mallorca, perfectly preserved. In fact its owner explained to us that, in all these years, the car has only been taken out twice to be exhibited for a few days and on a third occasion to be moved from one state to another, both owned by the family. In a way, having been left unused when it was new, it has remained pristine, in 100% original condition, as if it had been placed in a time capsule.
Some successful adventures with the Benz Victoria
The German, who were very precise and loved technology, admired this technical gem of the era. And they certainly studied very carefully how to make it work properly, as did the young Baron Theodor von Liebig, who in 1894 embarked on and successfully completed a great adventure with the Benz Victoria.
On 16 July 1894, the baron, accompanied by Dr Franz Stransky, set off on their expedition from Liberec (formerly Reichenberg, Bohemia) and headed west. After six stages, a total of 69 hours on the road and 939 km, they arrived in Gondorf an der Mosel. They recorded all of this in detail in a logbook that is now in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The original vehicle is in Prague, in the Technical Museum.
There is currently one such vehicle in Germany in perfect working order, even with a valid MOT certificate. It is owned by Karl Heinz Rehkopf, who recently succesfully completed the “Veterans run” car race from London to Brighton, covering a total of 110 km. It consumed 20 litres of petrol and … 110 litres of water for cooling !
Since we are talking about firsts, do you know where the first vehicle was registered in Spain? We wrote about this topic some time ago. If you are interested, follow the link to our previous post: First car registered in Spain