Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Carl Friedrich Benz, also known as Karl Benz, was born in Muhlburg (now Karlsruhe), Germany in 1844.

Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific

His father died when he was two and his mother raised him alone.

She made sure he got a good education.

He enrolled in Karlsruhe Polytechnic when he was 15, and he graduated in 1864.

Carl Benz had a degree in mechanical engineering.

Image Credit: National Inventors Hall of Fame

Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Carl Benz and mechanical expert August Ritter founded their first business in 1871.

Ritter was an unreliable business partner, so Benz used the dowry of his bride, Bertha Ringer, to buy him out.

Carl Benz married Bertha in 1872.

Bertha Benz made history when she took the first long-distance car journey in 1888.

She is also known as the first female motorist. Carl and Bertha had five children.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Benz founded Benz & Co. in Mannheim in 1883 after he left his first company.

The company focused on stationary engines, but Benz never gave up on his goal of building a motorcar.

Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Group AG

In 1885, Benz invented the world’s first motorcar.

The Motorwagen had a gas-powered internal combustion engine and three wheels. It could carry two people.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Benz was granted patent No. 37435 for his automobile a year later.

The Motorwagen stood out because it was built around its engine. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Other horseless carriages during that time were simply carts and carriages with an engine attached to them.

Between 1885 and 1887, Benz designed three variations of the car.

He gifted Model No. 1 to the German Museum in 1906.

Model No. 3 was the car Bertha Benz drove during her historic  long-distance trip.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Benz sold a model of the first car in 1888.

He started making four-wheeled vehicles in 1893. He produced 1200 units of the “Velo,” a motor velocipede, between 1894 and 1901.

Image Credit: Encyclopedia  Britannica

The model is the world's first series-produced car.

However, other automakers outpaced Benz vehicles in  the 1900s.

Not only were their cars less expensive, but they also delivered more horsepower.

Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz AG, Wikimedia

In 1926, Benz & Co. merged with a car company founded by Gottlieb Daimler, a fellow German and automotive pioneer.

Daimler-Benz went on to manufacture Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

The name “Mercedes” came from the daughter of Emil Jellinek, a racing enthusiast who raced and sold Daimler vehicles.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Benz witnessed the upsurge in motorized transport before he passed away in 1929.

Today, Mercedes-Benz is known as the number one luxury car brand in the world.

Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Do you own a Mercedes-Benz?

Keep it performing at its best with replacement parts and upgrades from CarParts.com.