The first practical automobile, a Benz arrived to the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in November, 1892. Nine years later, in 1901 – 125-years-ago – the first number plate was introduced in Budapest. By this time an automobile club was also established. And the Hungarian Post tried to jump-start the non-existing local industry with varying decrees of success. Sporting events were far and between until 1909 when Prince Henry of Prussia was convinced to bring the final stretch of his annual touring race to Hungary. This prompted the Hungarian Autonobile Club (later Royal Hungarian Automobile Club) to organise similar tours, touring races on the territory of the Hungarian Kingdom and beyond between 1912-1914. Following smaller attempts, the first proper Hungarian automobile production plant was inaugurated in 1909. In 1913 the Hungarian Railyway Waggon Company struck a deal with Praga – thus Rába was born. Through all this, one can’t forget the influence of aristocracy on the Hungarian car parc.
The above is just a very small summary, a snapshot of the first roughly 20 years of Hungarian motoring from 1892 until the outbreak of WW1 in 1914. Pal Negyesi has been researching the history of Hungarian motoring for over 30 years and several recent findings prompted him to take a look at the early story and see what is out there. And he realised: oh, there’s a lot! Photos, stories, rumours, reports, statistics and more. So Pal Negyesi decided to launch a fundraiser for a Hungarian-language e-book which would be published before Christmas.
And then came the questions: can we order this e-book in English? Well, Hungarian motoring has little significance in international automotive history, but it is apparently an interesting chapter. And there are plenty of photos, which previously have not been published. So Pal Negyesi decided to launch a second fundraiser for the English-language version of the e-book. 96 pages, plenty of photographs (both original and reproductions from contemporary sources) and a lot of stories.
The goal is to collect €1000 by 15 June. More than half of it is already in the books.
To pre-order the book, readers are kindly asked to send €5/US$ 6. Obviously one can send more.
Payments can be done via bank transfer, PayPal or credit card.
More information on the initiative and the ebook can be found on Pal Negyesi’s website.