Nearly 100 years later, a handful of Velies have survived and there is an Official Velie Register that keeps track of all extant cars.

Karl Benz had been developing the Motorwagen piece by piece since the 1870s, ultimately bringing it to market in the mid-1880s.

Her husband, Carl Benz, was the German car engineer who created what would one day become Mercedes-Benz. According to that very same car company, Bertha, born in 1849, married Carl when she was 23.