Built a high-speed petrol engine and early vehicles
Bertha Benz
Made the first long-distance journey in 1888, from Mannheim to Pforzheim
Nicolaus Otto
Developed the four-stroke engine in 1876
Plate 071
1885–1886
Mannheim and Stuttgart, Germany
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
Karl Benz applied for a patent for his Motorwagen on 29 January 1886. Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built a motor vehicle in 1885–86 independently.
About credit
Benz and Daimler worked independently. Bertha Benz’s 1888 trip, about 100 km, proved the car’s practicality and is well documented.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before the Motor Car
Land travel meant walking, riding or horse-drawn vehicles, and railways for long journeys.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
Benz’s three-wheeled Motorwagen had a single-cylinder four-stroke engine. In 1908 Henry Ford’s Model T, built on a moving assembly line from 1913, made cars affordable for millions.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
The Motor Car, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Internal combustion
A mix of fuel and air is compressed and ignited in a cylinder, and the explosion pushes a piston.
Internal combustion
Four strokes
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Cities and suburbs
Roads, parking and suburbs spread.
Environment
Burning petrol produces carbon dioxide and air pollution.
Personal motor transport changed where people lived and worked, how cities were built and how the world used oil.
V
Before and after
Life before and after The Motor Car
Before
A day by horse.
After
About two hours by car.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
Today’s shift to electric power reverses the combustion era.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
Bertha Benz’s road trip
In August 1888, Bertha Benz drove her husband’s car with her two sons from Mannheim to Pforzheim without telling him. She bought fuel at a pharmacy and fixed breakdowns on the way.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.
