OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS: A Car Lust Road Trip. “When Frau Bertha Ringer Benz of Mannheim, Germany loaded her two teenage boys on the family automobile that day in August of 1888 and set off for her mother’s house in Pforzheim, it was in fact the first time anyone, anywhere on the planet, had used an automobile for personal travel. That would make the trip one for the history books all by itself, but there’s even more to the story. Frau Benz would accomplish quite a few more automotive ‘firsts’ in the course of her 65 mile adventure.”