The man who was issued Croatia’s first ever driver’s licence

(Photo: Darthagnon/ Croatian Technical Encyclopedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Licence Number 1. This was the designation of the driving licence issued on this day, 27 July 1910, to Ferdinand Budicki after he passed his driving test, writes Večernji list.

Budicki, a well-known Zagreb merchant, was a pioneer of motoring in Croatia.

He brought the first car to Zagreb, a second-hand Opel, which he bought in Vienna for 4,000 crowns.

According to the Technical Encyclopaedia of the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute, the car was “powered by a single-cylinder engine with 3.5 HP (2.6 kW), with power transmitted to the rear wheels by chain. It weighed 520 kg, reached a speed of 20 km/h, and consumed 10 l/100 km.”

As mentioned in the book “Watch Out, People, the Car is Coming,” Budicki registered the First Croatian Repair Shop and Store for Bicycles and Sewing Machines “K Tourist” on 25 February 1898.

The first shop was located at Mavrovska 24, today’s Masarykova. He sold Singer and Pfaff sewing machines, phonographs, gramophones, and polyphones, offering free lessons and servicing for bicycle customers. In a newspaper advertisement in March 1901, Budicki announced that he had become a representative for engines and cars from leading European factories.

Ferdinand Budicki (Image: Fair Use/Public domain CC)

No one in Zagreb yet had this petrol-powered wonder, so it was fitting for the representative of the first motor and car factories to acquire one. Thus, the idea of the first car in Zagreb was born. In 1902, Budicki moved his shop to Ilica 25, expanding his business to include cars and motorcycles.

Since Budicki brought the first self-propelled vehicle to Zagreb and caused a sensation, wealthier residents of Zagreb showed interest in the prestigious four-wheeled symbol.

In 1910, Budicki also took on the first general dealership for Ford cars in Croatia and Slavonia, a role he held for 18 years. Ferdinand Budicki’s driving licence was the first issued in Croatia, but it wasn’t his first. He had already passed his driving test in Vienna, but to drive in Zagreb, he needed a licence issued locally.

(Photo: Darthagnon/ Croatian Technical Encyclopedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Budicki learned to drive with a short lesson from Austrian athlete and industrialist Otto Beyschlag and by observing electric tram drivers. Interestingly, Budicki had been teaching driving since 1904, including to members of the committee that awarded him his licence.

Budicki was a great adventurer. He cycled through many European countries and North Africa, flew by balloon from Zagreb to Stubica and Velika Gorica, and even to Baška on the island of Krk.