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Dec 15, 2023

Women ‘N Wheels car show highlights female impact on automotive history

Tamara Haas of Culver City poses in front of a car at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event

Tamara Haas of Culver City poses in front of a car at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Attendees enjoy the sights at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Esmeralda and Jose Banuelos and their kids pose at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Patricia, Samuel, and Lisa Batchelor stand before their family's two classic cars at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Attendees enjoy the sights at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

A car with a custom anime-inspired decor wrap at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Dre and Jeri Freeman from Florida enjoy the cars on display at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Attendees enjoy the sights at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Rockabilly band Hot Rod Trio perform for the audience at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contestant Faith Floridia (front) poses for the audience at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Pin-up model and winner of the 2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contest Megan Myschief poses in front of a vintage car at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Attendees hit the dance floor at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contestant Starrcat (front) poses for the audience at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

The 2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contest participants await their turn on stage at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

The judges of the 2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contest focus on the contestants at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Pin-Up models Seattle, Megan Myschief, and Brettie Page, the three finalists of 2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contest, pose for the camera at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Attendees view the 2023 Miss ZADM Pin-Up Contest at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Pin-up model Bomber Betty poses in front of a vintage car at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Pin-up model Faith Floridia poses in front of a vintage car at the Women ‘N’ Wheels event on March 11, 2023 at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, CA. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

If it wasn't for Bertha Benz, the ubiquitous brand Mercedes Benz may have driven off the proverbial cliff. And, without Mary Anderson, we might be climbing out of our vehicles to clear away rain from windshields.

Benz, in 1888, became the first person to drive an automobile a significant distance — 66 miles.

Anderson, in 1902, created the first working windshield wiper blade.

It's those pioneering women in the car industry and their modern-day counterparts who were celebrated on Saturday, March 11, at the Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum's annual Women ‘N Wheels event.

The automobile museum in El Segundo has been putting on the event during Women's History Month since 2015 when Pati Fairchild, a shop class teacher at El Camino College, first conceived it.

Fairchild's idea was to create a first-of-its-kind car show by women, for women, said Marisol Herrera, Zimmerman's executive director in an interview before the weekend. The event eventually outgrew El Camino College and in, 2017, the auto museum took over.

On Saturday, women showed off their vintage cars, some of them dressing as they would during their vehicle's heyday.

"The challenge," said Herrera, "is to dress the era of your vehicle, everything from 1905 to 2000."

Herrera herself owns a 1961 Ford Falcon named Jelly Bean.

And Jelly Bean's pronouns are she/her because "naturally, all cars are female," Herrera said.

In addition to the requisite car rally outside, the museum offered an all-woman lineup inside. There was rockabilly music by the aptly named Hot Rod Trio, performances by the Rusty Rhythm Club Dancers and shout-outs from DJ Dynomite Lola.

And what vintage car show would be complete without an homage to the historic pin-up culture? Every year, the Zimmerman includes a contest to crown Miss Z-ADM, said Herrera. The winner performs meet-and-greet duties at the museum throughout the year and hosts the contest next year. This year's theme was Old Hollywood.

It's not a beauty contest, of course, said Herrera.

Contestants are mostly judged on the authenticity of their costume and on their answers to lighthearted questions about pin-up culture or perhaps their favorite actress of the era, she said.

Herrera said this year she was most looking forward to seeing the vehicles from a Prowlers Club — a retro sports car that resembles a Plymouth PT Cruiser from the early 2000s.

"They’re not the prettiest," said Herrera, "But they are very rare."

What can we learn about history through women and cars?

"It's not a man's world," Herrera said.

And that brings us back to Bertha Benz and Mary Anderson.

Those 66 miles Benz drove?

She drove the route in a horseless carriage, unblocking a fuel line with her hat pin and enlisting the help of a cobbler to install leather linings on the wooden brakes when they began to fail. (Can you say, first brake linings?) And the best part: Benz reportedly made the trip to prove a point to her business partner and husband, Carl.

Carl Benz was having a tough time marketing his invention.

Bertha's trip, under the guise of her taking her sons to visit her mother, proved the brand that would eventually become Mercedes Benz had a future. And it set the scene for the importance of test drives.

That windshield wiper invention?

Mary Anderson applied for a patent in 1903, even before Henry Ford's Model A had been manufactured. When she later tried to sell the rights, detractors argued "the driver would be distracted by operating the device" from inside the vehicle.

Just 10 years later, windshield wipers became standard equipment in cars. Anderson's patent expired in 1920 and she reportedly never made any money from her invention.

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