122 years ago the car arrived in Bogotá

Official history says that the founding of the capital occurred on August 6, 1538, when Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada established a military camp of 12 huts in the upper area of ​​Teusaquillo, more precisely in Chorro de Quevedo.

487 years have passed since then, an event that the capital has recently commemorated. Today, a parade of antique or special-interest cars will take place through Bogotá's main streets, emulating the already internationally famous display of vehicles that Medellín has organized for the past 29 years on the occasion of the Flower Fair.

One of the most relevant aspects of the arrival of Jiménez and his troop was their means of transportation, as they rode horses that the indigenous people called "big deer," which were considered immortal beings until one of the beasts died in the area, testifying to their vulnerability.

The animal was the king of mobility for 365 years until the arrival in 1903 of a device that caused not only panic, but also amazement among the people of Bogotá, because it moved with the help of a few horsepower, but this time with power that came from a rustic single-cylinder engine that bore, along with the frame, the Cadillac brand.

The one who brought it to Bogotá was the immigrant Ernesto V. Duperly, whose son Oswaldo Duperly Angueyra in his book Lo que se hereda no se stealta (Ediciones Tercer Mundo, June 1978) relates the details with this pleasant text:

“My father, in 1903, saw the need to start motor transport. He imported the first single-cylinder Cadillac automobile. Transporting this vehicle from a Colombian port to Bogotá was a true odyssey. From Barranquilla, Magdalena River vessels with a capacity of 300 tons sailed up the river for approximately 1,000 kilometers to La Dorada. It was impossible to continue due to the Honda Falls. In La Dorada, smaller vessels with a capacity of 100 tons were transferred to the upper Magdalena River, all the way to Girardot. The worst part was the journey from Girardot to Bogotá, using logs, guandos, and often on their own wheels, pushing.”

With the first imported vehicle came its respective mechanic, recommended by the factory. Gasoline was also imported from the United States in five-gallon cans. Soon, he managed to establish the first Bogotá-Tunja automobile transport system. The main enemy of this progress were the traditional muleteers, who believed that the "horseless carriage," as they called it, would ruin their mule-back transport business. They repeatedly tried to prevent this by placing very stiff fences from side to side of the road so that, when the vehicle passed, it could injure the passengers, since this "horseless" carriage had no hood of any kind.

This display of lack of affection usually occurred late at night when visibility was almost zero, as the car's carbide headlights provided less light than a candle. This assault system was not very successful, as the car's speed never exceeded 30 km/h. The driver of this vehicle resembled an astronaut. He wore a long rubber jacket, large dark glasses, a wool cap, leather gloves, and boots.

Ernesto V. Duperly, of French origin but born in Jamaica, arrived with his family in Barranquilla in the mid-1800s. They were pioneers in photography, cinema, commerce, mobility, and the automobile, as were their descendants, who actively participated in the creation of Colmotores.

His father, Henri Duperly, decided to seek his fortune in Colombia and, as soon as he set foot in the country, he distinguished himself as a pioneer in technology and innovative opportunities. His first act was to found the Duperly & Certains studio in Barranquilla. He later founded the Duperly and Son Art Studio in Bogotá, agents for Kodak. As a result, his photographs were highly valued at the time. Indeed, until recently, businesses derived from this family tradition existed under the name Duperly.

Photos from that family's archives, provided by Gloria Helena Restrepo Duperly, illustrate this article (see more photos at Motor.com.co). These photos have been updated in detail and quality by Antioquian historian Juan Guillermo Correa Naranjo in his wonderful and unique book Historias del Automóviles en Colombia (Histories of the Automobile in Colombia), available at the Museo del Transporte Foundation in Medellín. It's two volumes, 800 pages, and a total of 7.5 kilos of history!

Of course, Duperly and the founding Cadillac were the protagonists of the first “car” parade, supposedly sometime between 1903 or 1904, from the Sabana Station (there was a railroad) to the Plaza de Bolívar – which took about an hour, probably the same time as today – and soon after they heroically undertook the conquest of the route between Bogotá and Tunja, lifting their car and towing it along the paths.

At that time, 1906, the then president of the country, General Rafael Reyes Prieto, brought the first presidential car, a French Charron, as precarious as it was expensive, since 23,000 dollars were paid for the artifact, which nevertheless was able to inaugurate the "highway" to Santa Rosa de Viterbo, where the president was from, who made his triumphal entry to the place in January 1909, where the astonished people "threw grass on the vehicle to refuel it." The Charron was discontinued and Duperly supplied the presidency with a more reliable Cadillac that same year.

By 1910, Duperly himself already owned a 45-horsepower Rambler, which he wanted to legalize. He approached the Municipal Wheeled Vehicle Inspection Office—now the Mobility Secretariat—and applied for a driver's license. This request caused a legal stir, as there were no regulations on the matter. All the regulations referred to animal-drawn vehicles, such as carriages and similar vehicles, or cargo vehicles, which the common people called "bitches." They are still in use today.

The Council studied the traffic problems of this nascent automobile phenomenon and, finally, on December 9, 1910, approved the issuance of driver's license number 001, specifically for the aforementioned Rambler and in the name of Duperly. It was issued in the same format used to grant legal status to all drivers of animal-drawn vehicles, with the observation that the engine's power and spark ignition were necessary. Duperly was classified on paper as an advanced "foxer."

It should be noted that this Cadillac was not the first car to arrive in Colombia. In 1899, the wealthy Antioquian businessman Carlos Coriolano Amador appeared in Medellín with a small French De Dion Bouton, after overcoming the same difficulties as the Duperlys on the other side of the Andes. The vehicle had a fleeting appearance; it never actually worked, and ended up as a toy for the children or grandchildren of the Restrepo Díaz-Granados family, on the La Floresta estate, now the Oviedo commercial center in Medellín. Without the engine, the children used the skeleton to slide down the slopes, which was extremely dangerous, so much so that the owner of the house ordered it buried next to the stables, and there it lies, although no one knows the exact location and, of course, little of the body probably remains because most of it was made of wood. To evoke memory, a group of enthusiasts from Medellín bought a similar original car in Germany years ago, which is now in the care of the city's museum.

One hundred and twenty-two years after the first "car" parade, the event is beginning to regain momentum thanks to the good offices of the Club de Aficionados a los Vehículos Antiguos (CAVA) and the Bogotá City Hall, which welcomed the project and opened its doors last year, and is now in its second edition.

Over the past century and a decade and a half, the car has progressively become the common denominator of mobility in a city torn between its emissions and the weaknesses of public transport, roads that largely retain the dimensions of the century before last and whose always mediocre state has failed to extinguish the culture of the old-fashioned irons that we will see parading today.

They will come in a variety of breeds, conditions, models, and authenticity or modifications, though all covered by the patina of bygone days. Even though the blue plaques that now distinguish the older ones, more than 35 years old and having passed through sophisticated tailoring shops, are increasingly generous compared to the difficulties of survival of older ones.

For all this, more than a car parade, what we'll see today is a showcase of culture and enthusiasm for the automobile and for the preservation of the species. For this reason, it's important to arrive with enthusiasm and respect for the cars, before they became plastic and intelligent.