Christmas Eve on Place du Tertre

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On a recent trip to Paris, France we behaved like real tourists and went to see all the highlights. Of course a visit to the famous Place du Tetre, the artist square in Montmartre was part of the program. But being what we are, we kept our eyes open for any hint of an antique car. And Lo and Behold, we spotted something on one of the houses, high up in the air. Not an actual car, but a plaque, commemorating Louis Renault who on 24 December 1898 drove a motor car for the first time on the Place du Tetre and thus marking the start of the French Automobile Industry. The story is that on Christmas Eve Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand are discussing the voiturette that Louis has made by turning his three-wheeled De Dion-Bouton into a motor car with four wheels. A lawyer who happens to pass by bets that it won't go. Louis accepts the bet and drives his voiturette up the Rue Lepic to the Place du Tetre, a street going uphill with a sharp rise of 13 percent! The lawyer is most impressed and orders a similar voiturette for himself and his company. Indeed the start of a whole industry.

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