Page 98 - Bulletin 9 2005

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THE AGE OF THE AUTOMOBILE:
MOTORING COMES TO THE CAPE PENINSULA 1898 - 1939

Bob Johnston

The marvel of the century

As is well known the first horseless carriage, certainly one of the first in the Southern

Hemisphere, was brought to Pretoria in 1897. It was a Benz of German make and the first
self-propelled internal combustion machine to be produced in any quantity. President

Kruger came to see it in action but declined the offer of a ride, reputedly saying that dogs

might bark at it and cause it to bolt. He deputed his young State Secretary, Dr. Leyds, to
take his place in the passenger seat as it chugged around the park. His burghers noted its

German origin and may have thought ominously of the Mauser rifles high on the list of

imports, and of Germany and of German engineering skills.

Meanwhile, down in the Cape, the manager of Garlick’s cycle department imported as a
trial, another machine, a Royal Enfield Quad, a sort of four-wheeled bicycle powered by a

one cylinder petrol engine, in fact the direct ancestor of the Quad 4-wheel motorcycle so
successful today. It was bought by a young Irishman, Alfred Theodore Hennessy, who

hoped to drive it to his office from lodgings in Green Point. His first attempt not

unexpectedly caused an upset. As there was no clutch he ran into the crowd of spectators
and attracted the attention of a policeman, also an Irishman. Sixty years later in a radio

interview, Sir Alfred Hennessy recalled the constable’s warning: “When next you go
motoring I suggest you leave that contraption behind!”

At this time pedestrians, horse-drawn vehicles, bicycles, and motor-bicycles all shared the

roads. Road regulations were minimal, maximum speed limits were low, and controls