The First Automobile of Gjuro Gavrilović I
From today’s perspective, when hundreds of thousands of cars are whirling past us, and we are nerve-wrecked from all that traffic, we don’t even notice that we ourselves drive kilometres and kilometres on vast freeways, overpasses and elaborately-lit tunnels. It definitely isn’t easy to picture the pioneer years of the automobile industry. Those who owned cars could be counted on one’s fingers. Their names were spoken in awe and respect, for everyone knew that one had to be very wealthy to afford such an expensive and rare four-wheeled toy.
The car in the picture, is that the very first car?
That was the first car owned by my great-great-grandfather, Gjuro Gavrilović I. He proudly showed a high-quality photograph of his grandfather. The car even came with a chauffeur. The chauffeur was present the entire time the car was being built and assembled. In those days, there were no auto-mechanics or trained chauffeurs. This driver was highly skilled and came together with the automobile. It was as if one owned an airplane in those times.
What model car was it?
Isotta Fraschini, Italy’s Rolls-Royce at the time.
So the man was Italian?
Yes. That car cost a fortune. Who could afford such a thing? The only person who could afford it was my grandfather, Gjuro I, who ran our family business together with his brothers. He was also the Mayor of the city of Petrinja.
What was the car like? It had a soft leather roof that could be folded down during summer and closed when it rained. In winter it resembled a carriage with a closed cabin. The driver sat outside like a coachman, in the open air, with only a glass windshield in front of him. The vehicle even had carbide lamps.
How fast could it go?
About eighty kilometres per hour. In those days people travelled for work and the car was used to drive to Vienna. During such trips the tires had to be replaced several times because they wore out over the long journey. That car was one of the first to have pumped tires, but at the time they still did not know how to properly protect them. Gas was bought at Grajzler’s General Store. It was stored in barrels, pumped out and poured into the car. Gas stations did not yet exist. This was the very beginning of automobiles for us. However, when I tell you the year I am talking about, you will realise just how early it really was.
What year was it?
1908.
That year, Zagreb was still using its „horse-pulled tram“. Newspapers would write with great enthusiasm how „the main square was lit up like a ballroom“– as street-lights were being introduced throughout the city. The main square and Ilica Street were slowly becoming paved, while the central market in Ilica Street was still just a gravel surface.
Petrinja, the city where Gjuro Gavrilović was Mayor, was still entirely unpaved. One of Zagreb’s well-known architects and future Mayor, Vjekoslav Heinzel, unites with Gjuro Gavrilović, as a fervent automobile fan and car-racer. My father, Gjuro Gavrilović II, was also a very successful motorcycle and car-racer.
