In the early morning hours of August 5, 1888, the 39-year-old Bertha Benz, wife of automobile pioneer Karl Benz, sneaked out of the house, and without the knowledge of her husband took to the road on one of the automobiles her husband had invented. Accompanying her on the 66-mile trip was her two teenage sons, Richard and Eugen, aged thirteen and fifteen respectively. The goal of this historic journey was to prove to her husband that his invention was worthy of travel and to encourage him to market his invention as such. Thanks to Bertha Benz, Karl Benz is often given credit for inventing the automobile.

Actors posing as Bertha Benz and her sons Eugen and Richard push-start their car in a reconstructed scene of the long-distance journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim with the Benz Patent Motor Car in 1888. Photo: Daimler