17 men, 6 cars, and a 21,000-mile race across 3
continents
On the morning of February 12, 1908, six cars from four different
countries lined up in Times Square, surrounded by a frenzied crowd.
The men who competed in the New York to Paris auto race were an
international roster of personalities: a charismatic Norwegian
outdoorsman, a witty French nobleman, a pair of Italian
sophisticates, an aristocratic German army officer, and a cranky
mechanic from Buffalo, New York. At a time when most people had
never seen an automobile, these adventurous men set their course
over mountain ranges, through Arctic freeze, and desert heat. There
were no gas stations, no garages, and no replacement parts in case
of emergency.
Two men rose to the top. Ober-lieutenant Hans Koeppen, a rising
officer in the Prussian army, led the German team in their
canvas-topped 40-horsepower Protos. His amiable personality belied
a core of sheer determination, and by the race’s end, he had won
the respect of even his toughest critics. His counterpart on the
U.S. team was George Schuster, a blue-collar mechanic who led the
Americans in their lightweight 60-horsepower Thomas Flyer. A born
competitor, Schuster battled Koeppen until the very end. Ultimately
the German and the American would be left alone in the race,
fighting the elements, exhaustion, and each other until the winning
car’s glorious entrance into Paris, on July 30, 1908.
關於作者：
Julie M. Fenster is an author and historian who began her
career at Automobile Quarterly, where her book Packard:
The Pride won the Best Book award from the National Automotive
Journalism Conference. She is also the author of the award-winning
Ether Day and Parish Priest, with coauthor Douglas
Brinkley. Fenster lives in upstate New York.
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