People dress up for so many different reasons and one customer stands out very much.
I met Patricia in my store a few months ago. She and her husband Duane where looking for something very particular for an unusual trip they were going on.
They were going to travel across Canada to show off the very first Mercedes Benz car, complete with a costume for the pair (little cutting here and adding here, I was able to suit them up).
Below is a write up from Patricia:
Duane, Patricia & the Mercedes (car is the one with the wheels)
It features wire wheels with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power is transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle.
The Model 1 car was patented in 1886 and successful tests were carried out in early summer on public roads. Model 2 had several modifications and in 1887, Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced showing at the Paris Expo that same year. Parisians were more inclined to purchase automobiles at the time.
His wife, Bertha, invested in Benz’s business enabling him to develop the first patented automobile and she was the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance, 106 km (60 miles). She left Mannheim at dawn with her two sons and arrived in Pforzheim after dusk to visit her mother. This is now a famous route in Germany.
Her intention was to get publicity on the way back home, which she did. She was able to report everything that had happened on her trip and made several suggestions to improve the car. Because there were no gas stations at that time, she had to find a product called Lingroin as fuel. It was a cleaning product only obtainable from a dispensing chemist shop, or as we know them now, pharmacies/drug stores.
On our trip, we are using a product called hexane. We had to receive it from Germany. Yes, the car runs.
Although Carl lived near poverty when growing up, his mother strove to give him a good education. At the age of 9 he started at the scientifically oriented Lyseum. He then went on to study at the University of Karlsruhe. He had originally focused his studies on Locksmithing, but decided to go the way of his father, locomotive engineering.
At age 15, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineer and graduated at 19. He had many jobs along the way, as a mechanical engineer, technical drawing and designer; he worked for a bridge company and at an iron construction company. His lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop. At 25, he founded a new company called Benz and Cie, where he had 25 employees and started to produce gas engines.
After all was said and done, Carl Benz was an Inventor.“
