Let‘s travel 1900‘s France with the Michelin Guide!

You probably know of the Michelin Guide. You know: French cuisine? So said “3-star restaurants “? The holy grail of chefs around the world. Every year, this guide lists (and largely decides) what restaurants worldwide are the best. Yet, you might not know that the Michelin Guide started very differently. Indeed, for the first ten editions or so, the guide listed absolutely no restaurants! You might ask then what IS listed? Well, Michelin Guides started as travel brochures. Keep in mind that Michelin is a tire company. In 1900 (the year of the first Michelin guide), there were very few cars in France (around a thousand). To remedy that and incite people to acquire cars (and therefore, tires) Andre Michelin produced the very first Michelin Guide. This guide contains much information circling around driving good practices, sights to see and travel tips. Frankly, it is an excellent marketing plow. And it worked. As a matter of fact, Michelin still does travel brochures to this day, although they are now separate from the Michelin Guide we all know (and now called “Michelin Green Star guides“). Today, I want to point out what I found most interesting in that very first Michelin Guide. I learned a few things and I am sure you will too!

Fair warning that the guide looks large, but is filled with ads and technical information on cars that (sadly) went over my mind. I will come back to that last tidbit shortly, but for now, let‘s follow the guide in order.

In Andre‘s own words: “This guide desires to give everything useful for drivers travelling France to supply and repair their vehicle, but also sleep and eat.“ From what I can see, the guide lives to those expectations, in fact, maybe TOO much. There is so much information on how to take care of your care, too much for me. I really need to get some training in automobile mechanics. I admit I am currently lacking in that. Yet, I find the presence itself of that information quite shocking. Let me explain. It is largely regarded by scholars that we don‘t REALLY know how cars from that time worked. That sounds silly, but it is a largely accepted view. Although, I am not an expert on that matter and maybe that view changed in the last few years. In my mind, paying close attention to those early Michelin Guide could probably clear many of the misconceptions we have. Just a thought.

Besides those extensive instructions on car repair (with a focus on tires of course), the guide is also scrupulous about the general landscape of 1900 France. The guide lists every city with more than a thousand inhabitants with this information:

Is there fuel on sale?
What company fuel is available? Remember that there were few conventions in the automobile industry at that time. As such, every car company used their own fuel blend. Few cars were compatible with fuel blends from other companies.
Is there a mechanic on-site?
Does the city have electricity (still a rarity in 1900)?
Is there a medic and/or a pharmacist?
List of recommended hotels separated into 3 tiers of price
List of recommended inns separated into 3 tiers of price

And that list is long. VERY long. Take a look for yourself if you are up to it.

And now… fun fact lightning round!

Interestingly, this first Michelin Guide was freely given as a brochure. That would change in the 1910s.
As a case study proving just how new cars were at that time, consider that the guide contains a table to estimate your car speed using a chronometer and distance milestones. Almost no car had a speed indicator, even less a dashboard.
Andre gives a recipe for “driver‘s eyedrops“. It goes like this: 450g of coca leaves, 25g of laurel water and 15g of baking soda. The fact that Andre specified that this recipe was essential really makes me wonder (or dread?) about just how healthy driving a car at that time was…
Andre lists plenty of tips that are still useful to this day. I particularly like his advice to not wash your car when it's cold (at the risk of damaging your varnish).

One final thing: Andre included a resume of the new rules applicable to motorized cars. Apparently, it was even approved by the President of the French Republic (it would have been Emile Loubet at that time). That document contains plenty of fun tidbits. Here are a few:

The document specifies that no car can leak burning substances. You heard right: not just flammable substances, but already burning substances. Just the fact that they felt it necessary to add that makes me laugh a bit.
At that time, every car needed at least two different breaking systems. At least one had to act directly on the wheels.
Driving permits already existed at that time! Ah, the power of bureaucracy.
Speed limits were 30 km/h in the countryside (about 18.5 mph) and 20 km/h in cities (about 12.5 mph). That‘s… not very fast.
It seems that towing existed but not in the form you think of. Being towed by another car or a truck? Nah. Use a train instead. I love the images that come up. Trains even had to have a specific red light on the back to use when they were used for towing.

And… that‘s it! Well, apart from the ads. In any case, that was a fun little incursion back in time. Hope you enjoyed it and see you next time.

References

Guide Michelin, by Pneu Michelin, Publisher Clermont-Ferrand, France 1900.