Continental

 

In January 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for a vehicle with a gas-powered engine. The following July he turned heads tooling around in his horseless carriage. It had two large spoked wheels in back, a small wheel in front for steering, a seat, and a tiny, four-stroke engine. Most people saw it as a novelty: interesting, but not particularly useful. Two years later, Carl’s wife Bertha decided to change their minds. Without his knowledge or consent, she took Carl’s invention on a road trip from her home in Mannheim to Pforzheim, where she’d been born. Her two sons Eugen (He was fifteen at the time) and Richard (fourteen) went along for the ride. By the time they made it home, she’d driven 180 kilometers (111 miles): the world’s first long-distance automobile trip. When she got back, Bertha recommended adding a third gear for climbing hills, and she suggested installing brake pads.