Episode Details

Bertha Benz took her husband Karl's motorcar without telling him, loaded her two teenage sons into it, and drove sixty-five miles from Mannheim to Pforzheim — the first long-distance automobile journey in history. Karl had invented the car but was too afraid of public failure to demonstrate it. Bertha proved it worked, fixed it with a hatpin and a garter along the way, and saved the invention that her husband was too timid to promote.

This episode traces Bertha from her investment in Karl's workshop through the secret road trip that proved the automobile was viable, the mechanical problems she solved en route, and the role she played in turning a garage experiment into an industry.

• Bertha's financial backing of Karl Benz's workshop — without her money, there would have been no car
• The secret sixty-five-mile drive with two sons and no map — the first road trip in history
• The roadside repairs — a hatpin to clear a fuel line, a garter to insulate a wire
• How the journey proved the car's viability and launched the automotive industry Karl was too cautious to start