I’ve found the earliest mention of motor cars being in Blantyre when I read an entry from the Hamilton Herald newspaper on 22nd January 1897. It read:

“A horseless carriage has been visiting Blantyre this week, and the small boy wants to know how it works. He is deeply interested in a vehicle which gets along without the usual help of a nag. Before ’97 is gone, we will be too used to them to wonder how they work.”

An interesting entry that hasn’t even got a name for the vehicle but does convey well the curiosity of. observers to such new contraptions. 126 years later….AI imagines this story with this unique illustration.