Right to Repair
Protecting the Interests of All
The origins of motoring can be traced back to 1672, when Jesuit priest
Ferdinand Verbiest built the first steam-powered vehicle in China. It was very
small, and impractical, but it moved on its own power, without any assistance
from man or animal.
D
ifferent means of propulsion
followed over the centuries,
with notable milestones being
the hydrogen powered car designed
by François Isaac de Rivaz in 1807;
an oil-fired steam car built in 1815 by
Josef Bozek; then Walter Hancock’s
four-seat steam phaeton in 1838; and
intriguingly Christian Friedrich Schönbein’s
contribution with his discovery of
hydrogen fuel cell technology in 1838.
All these were small steps, leading up to
the first car to be propelled by petrol in
1870, thanks to Austrian Siegfried Marcus,
who stood on the shoulders of Nikolaus
Otto. Rudolf Diesel then chipped in with
his invention of the four-stroke diesel
engine.
Other contributors were Ányos Jedlik
(electric motor), and Gaston Planté
(lead-acid battery), while George B.
Selden, Samuel Brown, Etienne Lenoir
and many other trailblazers contributed
to the advancement of the self-propelled
“horse”.
But it is generally acknowledged that it
was the German inventors who cracked
the code with the first really practical
automobiles, and foremost was Karl
Benz, who was granted a patent for his
Motorwagen on 29 January 1886, and
began the first production of his vehicles
in 1888.
These cars were a bit slow and unexciting,
so we must also acknowledge the
debt owed to Louis Renault for his
development of performance cars in 1898.
And then along came Henry Ford with his
game changing concept of assembly lines
and the introduction of the world’s first
affordable car in 1908, the Ford Model T.
The die was cast, and today there is
hardly a place on the planet where the
automobile does not take centre stage –
and the horse as a means of transport has
been consigned to history.
But as the horses were left to graze, and
as is man’s wont, the cart was put before
the horse, because no real plans were
put in place to keep the vehicles, that had
been so enthusiastically sold, in good
running order.
Motorists were effectively left to their own
devices, and it took some time for the
automotive aftermarket to develop, and
even as this industry found its footing, the
service levels were like the curate’s egg
– on the whole quite bad, but excellent
in places. This was the genesis of the
establishment of organisations to look
after, initially the motorists’ interests,
closely followed by organisations looking
after both the motorists’ and the motor
traders’ interests.
The Royal Automobile Club (RAC) was
the trailblazer in looking after motorists’
needs, and was founded, astonishingly,
as early as 1897.
In Germany, a similar organisation named
Allgemeiner Deutcher Automobil-Club
e.V. (ADAC) was founded in NL