An internal combustion engine is the part of a car that burns fuel inside itself to make the car go. It's the kind of engine most cars have had for a long time.
AMG is a special part of Mercedes that makes their cars faster and more exciting. The people who build the engines even sign their work to show pride in what they do.
A barn find is an old car that someone finds after it has been left alone for a long time, usually in a barn or garage. These cars can be special because they are old and sometimes need fixing to look like new again.
Car restoration means fixing up an old car to make it look and work like new again. If you use the original parts and follow the original designs, the car can be worth more money.
A corporate archive is like a big storage of old important papers and designs that a company keeps safe. Mercedes-Benz keeps all their old car plans and patents so they can fix or restore old cars the right way.
A data card is like a report card for a car that shows exactly how it was made and what features it had when it was new. It helps owners know what their car originally came with.
The parts business means the company keeps making and selling real parts for their cars even after they stop making the cars. This helps people fix their cars with the right pieces, not cheap copies.
Original parts are the real parts made by the car company for your car. They fit better and keep your car safe and working well compared to fake or copied parts.
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a very fancy and comfortable car that is often used by important people. It has lots of new features and is known for being smooth and quiet to drive.
Bertha Benz was the first person to take a long trip in a car, showing that cars could really be used for travel. She helped prove that cars were useful and reliable.
A gas station is a place where you fill your car with fuel. Before gas stations were common, people had to buy fuel from places like pharmacies.
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A lot of people still don't know now that they can ask Google or Siri what's the original car.
Most people get it confused but Mercedes-Benz has the original patent for the internal combustion engine car that is a replica here at least, right?
Well, it's absolutely right. 140 years ago in 1886 Karl Benz filed the patent for the first motor car in the world, which is the birth certificate of the car.
And the same year it was further developed to a four-wheel car and since 140 years going on the company is just maintaining this tradition of pioneering spirit,
of best quality, of safety and of individual mobility and creating the best cars at any time, making them also best collectibles for the future.
Yeah, I remember executive for Mercedes-Benz always said like, because of that, because we Karl Benz patented the first combustion engine car.
Every car in the world has something, a little bit of Mercedes-Benz in it, right?
Absolutely, and it's not all the first car. We invented and patented the crumpling sound. We invented the airbag and had it first also in the market.
The so-called traction control system, ASR, the ABS, anti-blocking system, also the ESP, the electronic stability program, all the sensors you need today for assistance programs in the car, and so on and so on.
Yeah, everything.
At least here a little bit about it.
At the wall you always see what has happened in the world at the specific years and in parallel you see the cars we have built here, we have conceived and brought to market year after year.
We display 160 cars at the museum through the ages, through 140 years. We have our secret collection, our secret holy halls, where we have tucked away another 1200 cars.
So of each relevant model we keep at least one.
Then you have the motorsport section of it, which is amazing, I mean like that display which is almost on the wall like in a parabolic turn on the famous racetrack and everything, all the history and all that, Formula One, Manuel Fangu and all those things.
One time I remember I was there in Stuttgart, they took us first to the museum. I don't know if it was for the opening of the museum, which is what, 25 years ago?
Just 20 years ago. 20 years ago the building, the museum exists by far longer.
Oh no, no, of course not the new one anyway.
And then as you said, they said okay this is the museum, and then they took us a few blocks out, I don't know what direction, a building with no signs or anything, and then they opened those doors.
And you were saying that's where they keep everything. They have stacks of cars, the Formula One cars, and a car that was like I don't know from princes and kings and everything in the world.
I mean like the history is just amazing and you are responsible for it. I mean I think it's the most important job in the company.
It is an important show, important responsibility, you are right and you have described it bang on.
So we have 11 of these secret holy halls and simply keep the cars to document whatever we have done.
It is also important for us to make it visible and make it absolutely understood to the inside of the companies on a regular base.
I do give speeches, lectures to our engineers to make them really, really, really very committed to the spirit of the founding fathers and mothers of the company because Bernhard Benz also, the wife of Karl Benz played a major role.
So really to link them to the core of the brand, to give them the pride of the engineering spirit, to make them understand how important it is to be an engineer, to create progress, to work for individual liberty, in mobility and safety and comfort.
The AMG engineers signed each individual engine, that's really, really cool and important.
But then let's talk about people who own old Mercedes-Benz and I mean like they have like sentimental value, I mean like for them but not every Mercedes-Benz is worth of collecting or what's the process I want to say more.
Let's say I have one in my garage and I said oh my uncle, my grandfather, the barn found and all those kind of things, those stories that you hear all the time, what will be the process if someone wants to like okay let's make this car back to original?
First of all value is in the eye and beauty, is in the eye of the watching person and in the heart of the watching person.
So you might be absolutely thrilled about a certain car because you as a young kid had experienced it in your grandfathers or mothers or family use.
You might remember days you have been at a huge exhibition and that gives you a certain relation and then independent from that many of our cars are technological marvels and our quality philosophy is quite intense.
So the cars are built to really last forever and the design time by time it changes but it always has to be to a certain degree time less.
We always try to build cars which never fall out of fashion so one of our principles is don't use any designs which would be embarrassing five years from now.
So you always can be proud to sit in any Mercedes-Benz and you feel well-traced, independent if it's a hundred years old or if it's one year old.
I remember I'm from Mexico and when I was a kid in Mexico they wouldn't allow to import cars that were not built in Mexico before the open markets.
I remember there was this shop down the street from my house. It was a small shop but it had the Mercedes-Benz logo.
I remember seeing it now like in my head. It was a blue color and then you open those doors and you see all these cars from the 30s or the 40s and it was fascinating to see those cars and how they were working and that.
And that's the other secret of the success of your division that you guys have every document for every single part.
So when you restore a car and that goes back to my question, when you restore it properly it actually acquires more value because it was made from the original plans.
We are in the unique position to also be responsible for our corporate archive.
And the archive from the very beginning, from the patent file of Carl Benz, we have filed everything which is important.
It's a huge archive and it's for sure the biggest archive of any car company.
It's probably the biggest corporate archive, at least in Europe if not worldwide.
We have for each car ever produced a so-called data card which documents the whole important information about all the equipment the car had at the point of delivery.
So we have that.
For your individual car, we have the document which says what color, what engine, what kind of options we document that.
And then we have certainly for all the cars we have the construction files and we are also responsible for the worldwide parts business.
So 15 years after the end of production, we take over the parts business and we make sure that as much as possible we can provide owners, customers worldwide with original parts.
And if they are not available anymore, then we start a process to make sure at one point that we reproduce it as an original part and nobody should be forced to buy, let's say, a fake part.
Well, parts which are not authorized by us and which might compromise your safety and the quality of the car.
So I've been covering the automotive industry for 25 years now and people always ask me, what's your favorite car? What's the most amazing car you've ever driven?
And people think, oh, whatever, new modern car.
And I always say, back to a story, in 2010 I went to the Woodwood Festival of Speed and we went to that track that is near London where you have a big operation.
We were there from the unveiling of the CLS, that coupe S-Class, but the coupe version of it, which I don't think is longer available.
So that was on Friday night, Saturday morning I opened my windows in the hotel and I see in the parking lot like 15 cars all covered with black Mercedes-Benz tarp and silver arrows.
And they started taking them off at 1953, 1934 and they have a 300 SL Goldwin, which I drove from there all the way to Goodwin.
I've never been more nervous because I mean that car came basically out of the museum, which is a huge privilege and I always go back to that story.
To me the older the car, the better because it shows not only the process as you were mentioning, how perfect it was before big computers or robots and all that.
So to me that's the story and now you're here showing, I think that was a year earlier or a year after when I drove, but that's amazing.
Well that's what we try in different settings to show. It is really 140 years of innovation. You have the first car in the world, you have the first American Mercedes.
You have a black series of Mercedes-Benz, you have here the Fintail rally car, which was driven by Effie Rosquist, the first female victory winner of the Argentina rally.
One of the hardest roads in the world, you have an Evo II 201 DTM race car, which has won the DTM trophy.
So much history. So much.
I was telling the PR team like, I don't think, we only have 15 minutes and it's like 140 years. I don't think we'll make justice to it, but thank you very much for your time.
Thank you very much.
And I think we have a unique opportunity. We're going to have a little ride in that replica of the original.
They will have it a little bit later and you are certainly brave enough.
Like Bertha Benz, right?
Like Bertha Benz.
Can you tell in 30 seconds a little bit of that story, Bertha Benz story when she took the car?
Well, Bertha was absolutely dedicated to support her husband, who was a genius engineer.
But at a point, 1886 defile, in 1888 she thought if it continues to go to market that slowly, then actually it will be a good success.
So when her husband was away, she decided to take her two teenage sons and to visit her own family, her parental family 100 kilometers away and went all the way there and back.
So this was the first long distance travel of a motor car.
And she had to buy fuel at a pharmacy or something like that?
And because gas stations were not around, the first gas station was a pharmacy.
And so she made proof that a woman and two teenage kids can operate that car and that was the breakthrough.
That is amazing.
So for people who want to visit the website, I mean Stuttgart ideally, but at least the website, where do they get that information?
I'm trying to say.
Well, you can enter a classic center.
You can enter a classic center, you can enter a Mercedes museum and it will route you to the right place.
I'm going to go and imitate Bertha Benz in the water.
Perfect, thank you for watching it.
That's it for today's AI Auto Podcast with Javier Moda. Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did.
Tune in next time for more on how AI steering the wheel of tomorrow's autos. Drive safe, stay curious and catch you later.
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About this episode
Explore the rich history and innovation of Mercedes-Benz, from Karl Benz's 1886 patent for the first motor car to the company's pioneering safety and technology advancements like airbags and stability control. Discover the extensive archives and secret collections preserving over 1,300 vehicles, and hear the inspiring story of Bertha Benz's historic long-distance drive. The episode also touches on the restoration process, the emotional value of classic cars, and the brand's commitment to quality and engineering heritage.
Recorded at Moda Miami 2026, this episode captures a once-in-a-lifetime moment: driving the 1886 Benz Patent Motor Car, widely regarded as the first automobile ever built. I’m joined by Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, for an in-depth conversation on how Mercedes-Benz safeguards its origins and keeps automotive history alive for future generations.
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