---
title: "Which came first, the car or Coca-Cola?"
description: "the car and Coca-Cola both date from 1886. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/car-vs-coca-cola/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the car or Coca-Cola?

**Which came first, the car or Coca-Cola?: Both the same year**

Both 1886

Both arrived in 1886. Karl Benz patented the Motorwagen. John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta.

## Side by side

|  | the car | Coca-Cola |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1886 | 1886 |
| Date | 1886-01-29 | 1886-05-08 |
| Category | invention | company |
| What happened | Karl Benz patented the Motorwagen. | John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta. |

## the car

Benz's patent of 29 January 1886 is the usual date for the first practical petrol car. The vehicle's commercial breakthrough came from his wife: in 1888 Bertha Benz drove 106 km to Pforzheim without telling him, fixing the fuel line with a hatpin and the ignition with a garter on the way, and the resulting publicity sold the machine. Ford did not exist until 1903 and the Model T not until 1908.

## Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola went on sale in May 1886 as a patent medicine, selling about nine glasses a day in its first year. Pemberton sold the rights for a few thousand dollars and died in 1888 without seeing any of it. Pepsi followed in 1893 under the name Brad's Drink, renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898 — so Coke is seven years older, and both are older than the Ford Motor Company.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the car or Coca-Cola?

Both date from 1886.

### When did the car start?

1886. Karl Benz patented the Motorwagen.

### When did Coca-Cola start?

1886. John Pemberton first sold his syrup at a pharmacy in Atlanta.

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## Sources

- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]