Any attempt to document the towering achievements of past
centuries will at some point inevitably have to deal with that
piece of technology that changed the world: the motor car. Its
inventors were Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, two men who in
1886 independently of each other succeeded in powering the fi
rst automobiles. What was their driving force? Curiosity and a
passion for research, coupled with a sixth sense for what is
technically feasible – a highly explosive cocktail that has so
often proved to be the catalyst for new discoveries and which
here made possible the hitherto unfulfilled dream of individual
mobility. Theirs is a story that has captured the public
imagination for more than 125 years.