Original subtitles

- [narrator] previously on the cars that built the world,

(flame igniting)

pioneering inventor karl benz finally finds the fuel

to put internal combustion on wheels.

- This new invention would allow you to travel

where you wanted, when you wanted.

- [narrator] while visionary engineers

gottlieb daimler and wilhelm maybach--

- hey.

- [narrator] look to out do benz.

- Eight horsep-- (laughing)

- [narrator] by maximizing engine power

and creating the first modern motorcar.

- The mercedes was really the template

for everything that followed.

- [narrator] now, a powerful new duo emerges in England.

- You production, me marketing and sales.

- Henry royce couldn't sell a car

if his life depended on it,

but he could design a car that rolls could sell.

- [narrator] and will take on its rivals

through one singular goal.

- Making the best car the world has ever seen.

- Now, that sounds like a challenge.

- [narrator] but to build a car-making empire,

they must turn the automobile

from an experimental toy for the few

into a life-changing advancement for everyone,

(engine roaring) as benz,

daimler, maybach,

rolls and royce,

ford,

bentley,

porsche,

honda,

and toyota

create the cars that built the world.

(pensive music)

two years into a partnership with millionaire charles rolls,

henry royce is certain their new car, the rolls-royce 4050,

runs smoother than industry leaders benz and daimler,

and he's found a truly english way to test it.

- How exactly is this cup of tea

supposed to help me sell cars?

- Well, if I've done my job right, we won't spill a drop.

And that means our new engine specs are spot-on.

- Ready when you are.

- [narrator] alongside them,

managing director claude johnson.

- Royce designed the cars, rolls sold the cars,

and johnson ran the business.

- [henry] now start her up.

(engine cranking)

- what henry royce wanted

was for whatever he put his name to to be the best.

- All right, johnson, don't be shy.

Give it more.

Pick it up, pick it up!

Keep going, keep going!

Even more!

- Come on!

More! - More!

Give it all you got!

- [henry] go, go, go!

(dishes clinking)

(laughing)

- henry, I'm impressed.

Not a single drop.

- What you have to remember

is what other cars were like at the time.

They were so noisy and they were so coarse,

and then this rolls-royce turned up,

and you could barely hear it.

Sometimes they'd balance a penny on the chassis

and people would watch in amazement.

It was absolutely unprecedented at the time.

- The rate at which these things were progressing

from crude machines was incredibly fast.

And of course, it all got back to reliability,

because no one cared how refined your car was

if it was gonna leave you on the side of the road.

- [narrator] to prove their car's reliability,

the company targets the 1907 world performance record:

7,000 miles of nonstop driving without a breakdown.

The new rolls-royce reaches nearly 15,000 miles

without a hitch.

- There was absolutely no magic bullet here.

It was just hours, days, weeks, months, years

of perfecting every component.

That's why they became known

as the greatest cars in the world,

because they just kept going.

They just didn't go wrong.

- [narrator] when word gets out,

rolls-royce can't make their new model 4050 fast enough,

even though they sell for $6,000 each,

more than $150,000 today.

(phone ringing)

- mr. Davidson, it is absolutely a pleasure

to hear from you once again.

(phone ringing) lady hamilton.

No, your wish is my command.

What color would you like?

(phone ringing) mr. Cooper.

We will have it ready for you by next week.

My office will be in touch.

- [narrator] but while rolls-royce

brings reliable luxury to the rich,

(laughing)

(reverent percussion music)

in germany, karl benz has taken a different tack.

His reliable, affordable cars

have made him germany's top automaker.

He's now head of a car empire

worth over four million marks,

some $180 million today.

And while he no longer runs the business,

he owns a share of the company

and takes profits from every car sold.

- Karl benz, he had come up with

the first successful automobile,

and he really stuck to that vision for how you build cars.

- He had enormous success.

His vision of getting cars

to more people than anybody else had come true.

He was a man who was on top of the world.

- [narrator] but as benz succeeds,

in stuttgart, his greatest rival is struggling.

Daimler's 1901 mercedes moved the industry forward,

changing from old-fashioned carriage designs

to lower, faster, modern cars.

But six years later, their sales trail benz 10 to one.

A frustrated board pushes technical director

wilhelm maybach aside in favor of a familiar younger face:

Gottlieb daimler's son, paul.

- Paul daimler had a really tough job actually

because he followed in the footsteps

of two of the most brilliant engineers

the world had ever seen,

gottlieb daimler and wilhelm maybach.

- [narrator] the pressure's on daimler

to deliver an innovative new engine

that will attract buyers and outsell benz and the brits.

- They can build more, but we can build better.

Hmm?

We did it with the first mercedes.

Now we need to do it again.

- [narrator] it's a task daimler's director,

ernst berge, won't let him forget.

- That is what I'm trying to do.

- I don't need you to try.

I need you to succeed.

I'll let you get back to work.

- [narrator] as paul daimler strives for a breakthrough,

rolls-royce's new car is becoming an icon.

- Have you seen this?

They're calling it the silver ghost.

- What?

Why not call it by its proper name, the 4050?

- Who cares?

It's a damn catchy name.

I'd like it a lot more if I thought of it.

Now, henry, you can't just build the world's greatest car.

You've gotta sell it too.

- The silver ghost itself must've been

an incredible sight.

You've got this incredibly heavy complex chassis,

this engine that's more than seven liters,

and this fabulous silver bodywork,

complete with the flying lady emblem at the front.

It was just a,

a wonderful expression of opulence and optimism.

- [narrator] but cars aren't enough

to capture charles rose's restless imagination.

- You're both missing the real news.

Flight is the future of transportation.

- [narrator] as the 20th century progresses,

nothing is more thrilling

than the wright brothers' expansion of flight.

Since their first 12-second flight in 1903,

they've increased flying times over 600-fold,

achieving a new world record in 1908

of two hours and 20 minutes in the air.

And no one latches onto the excitement

more than charles rolls.

- Charles rolls's adventurous nature

was a perfect match for aviation.

This was his character, and this is something

where he really differed from henry royce.

- [narrator] rolls buys the first wright brothers plane

available in britain and makes more than 200 flights,

becoming the first person to fly to France and back.

But while rolls turns his attention to aviation,

a future rival is about to take aim at his business.

(light suspenseful music)

walter owen bentley has just completed

a five-year apprenticeship on the railways,

only to quit on his last day.

- Hey.

Are you just gonna throw it all away?

- No, not at all.

I got no interest in driving trains,

but I've got a better idea.

Imagine this:

Bentley and bentley motorcars.

- What do we know about cars?

- That...

Is the future.

- [narrator] bentley is just 22

when he teams up with his brother

and sets his sights on cars.

- If you're an engineer in the early years

of the 20th century, then the car world

must've seemed like the most exciting place to be.

The technology's evolving so fast.

The market is growing all the time.

All the big brains are all working on the next solution.

- Let's celebrate.

(sighing)

- [narrator] but in the first decade of the 20th century,

no one works harder at the car business

than 47-year-old american henry ford.

- I will build a car for the everyman with a price so low

that no man will be unable to afford one.

- [narrator] his strategy:

Simple, affordable cars for the masses.

Ford introduces his model t in August 1908.

By 1910, he's sold over 20,000.

- Henry ford was really the first automaker

to get cars into the hands of everyday people.

- [narrator] at the relative bargain of $850,

his simple, rugged model t makes driving attainable

to more than the rich.

Meanwhile, in England, henry royce has a different approach.

His silver ghost sells for nearly 20 times

the price of a model t.

He's determined to monopolize the luxury market

by continually improving the car's design.

- Henry.

Henry.

- Claude.

- I don't quite know how to say this.

- What is it?

- It's...

It's charles.

- [narrator] just six years into his remarkable partnership

with henry royce, charles rolls becomes the first brit

to die in an airplane crash.

- He was in a wright flyer and he made a maneuver

and the aircraft just followed up around him

and he plunged to the ground.

But like so many great people, he died doing what he loved.

(somber orchestral music)

- [narrator] for the rest of his life,

henry royce retreats into solitude.

(pensive electronic music)

- we're here to see mr. Doriot.

- Sure, he'll be with you in a second.

Just have a seat. - Thank you.

- [narrator] just two years after giving up

his railroad apprenticeship,

ambitious engineer w.O. Bentley is finding success

customizing high-end cars for french manufacturer dfp.

- What can I say; I'm impressed.

Every quarter, you and your brother outsell the last.

- Well, you've got an excellent product.

And when my brother customizes them,

they practically sell themselves.

(laughing)

- [narrator] at this seemingly inconsequential

business meeting, bentley encounters

an aluminum piston paperweight

that could change the course of car-making.

- It's so light!

- It's aluminum, but it's not real.

Obviously, it would melt

if you actually put it in an engine.

- [narrator] the aluminum paperweight

gives bentley an idea.

- That was a light bulb moment for him.

He suddenly thought, "if I could use a real aluminum piston,

"it would be an awful lot lighter."

- [narrator] pistons capture the energy

of internal combustion,

moving it through the crankshaft to the wheels.

In 1913, most pistons were made of steel,

but a lighter version

could drastically improve engine performance

by using less energy to turn engine parts,

getting more power on the road.

But if bentley's revolutionary idea

is going to change the industry,

he'll have to make an aluminum piston

strong enough to withstand the heat of internal combustion.

(pensive electronic music)

meanwhile, in germany,

paul daimler is also looking for ways

to increase a car's power.

- Daimler built its reputation on horsepower.

And when paul daimler took over,

he was searching for a way

to get to the next level of power and performance.

- He needed to have another magic bullet, really,

to bring them back into the race.

(bellows wooshing)

- [narrator] benz discovered the fuel.

Maybach improved its delivery.

Now, daimler targets what that fuel reacts with: Air.

Connecting a compressor to the engine's combustion chamber

acts like a bellows to a fire, supercharging it.

More air reaches the reaction,

providing additional oxygen to burn,

resulting in a dramatic power increase

over a standard engine.

That's, of course, something which sounds very attractive

to every car engineer.

- [narrator] it's an idea that's been used

in factory engines, but never in cars.

And it could be a game-changer.

As daimler works on a supercharger,

w.O. Bentley seeks his own breakthrough:

The aluminum piston.

- With an aluminum piston, you're creating a lighter part,

which helps the engine rev more freely

and you're making more power.

The challenge with an aluminum piston

is you have to manage heat.

If it melts, you don't have much of an engine anymore.

- [narrator] bentley experiments for months,

adding copper to aluminum,

trying to find a mixture that's as light as possible,

but doesn't melt.

(dramatic orchestral music)

- what w.O. Bentley sees in this aluminum piston

is his passport into the inner circle,

something that will set him off on a path to success.

- Lotsa people said, "you'll never be able to do it,"

but he came up with an aluminum and copper alloy,

which did work, and it worked very, very well.

- [narrator] but just as bentley makes what he hopes will be

a world-changing breakthrough, war breaks out,

(explosion booming)

threatening everything he's worked for.

(explosion)

in 1914, world war I sweeps the globe,

redefining military combat.

Thanks to advances made during the industrial revolution

and the invention of the internal combustion engine,

warfare is now mechanized.

- World war I was the first major war

in which the internal combustion engine had been available,

and it could be applied to all sorts of different things.

- [narrator] car-makers are key to mobilizing armies.

And for the first time,

they bring their skills to aircraft.

(guns firing)

- it's a really natural transition

that those who had worked so hard

in advanced the automobile engine

would now look at the airplane and say,

"okay, what if we put one of these in one of those?"

(dramatic orchestral music)

- [narrator] at first, it's a war

german manufacturers are winning,

as their planes out-power and out-run the allied air force.

Keeping that advantage is up to one of the country's

leading engine-makers, paul daimler,

who's under pressure to adapt the supercharger

for use in aircraft.

- [paul] ernst.

What are you doing here?

- The problem with aircraft engines is the higher you fly,

the less power you make because air is less dense,

so you need some sorta device to compensate for that,

and that was a supercharger.

- [narrator] but the technology isn't ready.

- Time is ticking.

You made promises.

The board needs a breakthrough

before it's too late.

- And I will get it there.

- [narrator] and daimler knows figuring it out

could be the difference between victory and defeat.

Meanwhile, across the channel,

daimler's rival, rolls-royce,

leads aircraft engine production.

But military commanders believe bentley's aluminum piston

may give them an advantage in the sky.

Hopeful its use will help defeat the germans,

they appoint him captain and send him to rolls-royce.

- Gentlemen, the german aircraft engine can fly at top speed

for a full minute longer than any of our planes.

This aluminum piston,

it'll save the lives of thousands of our boys.

Do we not owe them that?

Start it up.

- [narrator] bentley's piston is submitted to a stress test.

The question: Can it run at maximum power for two minutes,

giving british planes that critical extra minute

at full speed?

(engine chugging)

- it'll never hold. (chuckling)

(suspenseful orchestral music)

(clock ticking)

- one minute!

- That's enough. - No!

Let's see how far we can take it.

1:20.

1:30.

1:35. - It's enough.

- [w.O.] 1:40.

C'mon.

1:45.

- It's too much, it can't handle the rpms!

- 1:50, here we go. - I said that's enough.

- Two minutes!

Now you can turn it off!

Gentlemen, our boys just outran the germans.

- That was very impressive, mr. Bentley.

- [narrator] in 1915, rolls-royce

and nearly every british plane manufacturer

adopts bentley's aluminum piston

and bentley is commissioned to design engines of his own.

- So, in this first industrialized, mechanized war,

the companies, producing these weapons

get connected with patriotism.

They are the ones that are producing the things

that are gonna save their sons

and they're gonna put an end to this war once and for all.

- [narrator] some 4,000 bentley engines

keep allied pilots alive

and eventually help win the war.

In 1918, after four years and almost 40 million casualties,

world war I finally ends.

Bentley is now a national hero,

and he uses that status

to start the car company he's always dreamed of.

- He wanted to combine

engineering excellence with speed

to create what he thought would be

the best car that was available for the money,

and that was very much his vision.

- [narrator] in 1919, bentley makes his first car,

the 3-litre.

Measuring over 14 feet and weighing two tons,

it's jokingly nicknamed "the fastest truck in the world."

while others might beat the 3-litre's top speed

of 80 miles per hour, it's so tough and reliable

bentley offers an unprecedented five-year guarantee.

- The bentley 3-litre was an absolute monster of a car

packed with some fantastic engineering details.

There's lots of use of aluminum.

There's also the first car

to feature two spark plugs per cylinder.

What it means is you get much better combustion,

much better efficiency, more power;

ultimately, makes it go faster.

- [narrator] it sells for just over £1,100 pounds,

or $72,000 today.

And like it's rival, the mercedes,

it's designed to draw attention on the racetrack.

(engines roaring)

- back in the days where cars weren't broadly written about,

you had to go and make headlines,

and racing was seen as the way to do that.

The old adage is, "win on Sunday, sell on Monday."

- [narrator] but to challenge mercedes on the track

and rolls-royce off it,

bentley needs a driver who will capture headlines.

(engine roaring)

- damn!

He's the guy that we've been looking for.

- [narrator] few drivers are as well known

as british billionaire woolf barnato.

- Woo! (laughing)

- woolf barnato is one of the great characters.

His father had made a fortune

in the south african diamond mines

and then died in mysterious circumstances.

So, here's this archetypal rich kid who gets into motorsport

and proves to be really, really good.

- Oh, she's a beauty.

I almost didn't bring her back.

What you've made here is revolutionary.

- [narrator] barnato doesn't just want in on the car,

he wants in on the company.

- What do you say?

Your cars, my drivers?

It's gonna be something special.

- Yeah?

- Deal.

- Gentlemen, pleasure

ars after winning world war I,

the allies are enjoying booming economies

and skyrocketing car sales,

nowhere more than in the united states,

where the auto industry is gobbling up

80% of the country's rubber,

and over half its leather.

By 1922, american automakers have put

more than 12 million cars on the road,

over half of them model ts.

But in germany, massive postwar debts

and costly reparations have crippled the economy,

where there are just 80,000 cars total.

- In the 1920s, there were more cars in kansas

than in all of germany.

Mass inflation made it hard for any company,

especially a car company, to survive.

- [narrator] inflation is so high

it costs over 1 million deutsche marks

just to mail a letter.

At daimler,

the company makes bicycles

and typewriters just to survive.

And while paul daimler successfully takes

superchargers from planes to cars,

he never lives up to the reputations

of his father, or wilhelm maybach.

In 1922, after 15 years as technical director,

he resigns.

(banging)

- he was one of the people who

led the way for this new technology,

but at the end of the day,

today, only very few people know

the name paula daimler.

- [narrator] with the company now rudderless,

the board hires an ambitious race car designer

to save it from its postwar slump.

His name, ferdinand porsche.

- Well, we are glad to see you.

- Thank you.

- This company is in need of some real changes.

- Now, change is easy, mr. Bowditch.

(finger flicks)

improvement, now, that's a lot harder.

While I have you here, I have some big ideas

I'd like to start implementing right away.

- Ferdinand porsche was no easy character.

He was hot-tempered.

He had very clear ideas,

but he had some great talents,

and one talent was that he was a technical genius.

- [narrator] porsche's mission,

create a car that puts daimler

back in contention with the british,

who are thriving,

(upbeat party music)

especially w.O. Bentley,

whose fast car soon sees him enjoying the fast life.

- W.O., all of this

is the stuff born of people's dreams.

And you've made it our reality.

- [narrator] after a bentley 3 litre

wins at le mans in 1924,

billionaire driver woolf barnato buys in to the company,

and w.O. Quickly gives him full financial control.

- Barnato, he took over the company

and w.O. Bentley was left to what he was good at,

which was engineering more adventurous technologies,

like four valves per cylinder, twin spark ignition.

(engines roaring)

- [narrator] over the next five years,

barnato builds a team of famous and wealthy drivers

known as the bentley boys, who go on to take

four back-to-back wins at le mans, making bentley

one of the industry's most prestigious brands.

- Bentley was certainly out there

with rolls-royce and mercedes as the greatest

of the super high luxury quality car brands of the 1920s.

- [narrator] but glamorous wins on the racetrack

hide a stark financial picture.

(women laughing)

- walter, a word.

Alone?

Cheers.

- What's the matter?

- I've been over the books.

I'm worried.

- We've been winning!

- Yes, but we haven't been selling.

Each car you sell barely pays for the next one.

- The problem for bentley is that

motor racing always has been

and still is incredibly expensive,

and they just weren't selling enough cars

on a Monday to justify winning on a Sunday.

- We'll raise more money.

- You're running out of time.

(soft, mellow music)

- [narrator] as bentley's fame grows,

henry royce feels the pressure to respond.

Working from home like a hermit,

royce obsesses over a car

to succeed his iconic silver ghost.

- Henry royce was somebody who was almost perpetually ill

because he just couldn't look after himself.

He wasn't sleeping properly.

He wasn't eating properly, 'cause he was so driven

by this passion to create these incredible cars.

- [narrator] rolls-royce has released

only one new vehicle in over a decade,

to the frustrations of its managing director.

- Henry, we need to release a new model now.

Otherwise, perfection won't matter.

Bentley and his boys are dominating the headlines.

- I just need a few more tweaks.

(sighing)

- will you at least agree to a new name?

- Charles always was ahead of his time.

And it's only fitting we get a name

that lives up to the silver ghost.

What do you think about the new phantom?

(upbeat music)

- the great thing about the new phantom

was that it perpetuated the legacy of the ghost.

It was even quieter, even smoother.

It was just better in every way.

- How about just phantom?

- Now who's the perfectionist.

(chuckling)

(mellow music)

- [narrator] in 1925, 14 years after the silver ghost

stuns the world, bentley's arch rival, rolls-royce,

finally introduces a new car, the phantom.

- The phantom had a new engine,

with a much more efficient cylinder head.

Had overhead valves rather the side valves.

So it was a step forward.

(upbeat music)

- what are you doing?

- Hold on.

(engine roaring)

damn!

- [narrator] with a 7.7 liter engine,

versus the bentley's three,

the phantom makes 25 more horsepower

and hits 90 miles per hour,

while the bentley tops out at only 80.

- What's significant about the phantom

is not only its luxury and refinement,

but also its speed.

Bentley was supposed to be building racing cars,

but here's a rolls-royce that goes 10 miles an hour faster.

If you were in the very posh,

very expensive club of that era,

that's a big trump card in rolls' favor.

- [narrator] as royce triumphs,

in germany, postwar turmoil

has crushed the car industry.

With its two leading companies

facing spiraling costs and plummeting sales,

the banks step in and force a merger

that will forever shape the industry.

- For almost 40 years,

daimler and benz were archrival companies.

It was only really after the horrors of the first world war

that they had to really think the unthinkable.

- [narrator] the merger creates one of the most

prolific car-making entities in history,

a company that will go on to bring in

over $100 billion a year, mercedes-benz.

- The merger of daimler and benz

really gave both companies a legitimacy

and a springboard to show they could compete again

against the british companies like rolls-royce and bentley.

- [narrator] retired, but with a lifetime seat on the board,

the man who started it all, karl benz.

(clapping)

- karl benz paved the way for an entire global industry.

That's a huge accomplishment for a guy

who started out just tinkering in his garage.

(upbeat music)

- [narrator] now, newly merged mercedes-benz

needs a signature car to compete

with the likes of rolls-royce's phantom.

And it's up to technical director ferdinand porsche

to perfect paul daimler's supercharged,

but hard to drive cars.

- The first mercedes sports cars were enormous beasts.

They had a big supercharger in front of an enormous engine,

and whilst they were incredible in the straight line,

they weren't very good around corners.

(engine roaring)

(crashing)

- if you stick a big supercharger at the front,

you're going to put a lot more weight

on the front tires than the rear.

It's a bad combination.

(rattling)

- hold up, stop, stop, stop.

(tense music)

- [narrator] porsche sees a simple but impactful solution.

Move the engine further back in the car.

- Okay, take that.

In front of the threshold, let's go.

- That helped create a more even distribution of weight

between the front and the rear of the car.

And it made it handle a lot better,

so, suddenly you had a car that was very powerful,

that actually went around corners very well, too.

(upbeat music)

- [narrator] the changes make the car

both shorter and lighter.

(upbeat music)

the result, the mercedes ssk.

Porsche creates a road-going race car

that hits 120 miles per hour.

For the second time in its history,

mercedes has the fastest car in the world.

- They combined everything which was possible in the 1920s.

It was high technology at most power.

Everything came together.

- [narrator] but just as germany

and its car makers get back on their feet,

economic disaster brings the car market

and the world to a screeching halt

on black Friday, 1929.

(crowd clamoring)

- the good times in the 1920s only lasted so long

and they resulted in the epic collapse

of the stock market in 1929,

kicking off the great depression.

(tense music)

- [narrator] in the united states,

a quarter of the workforce lose their jobs overnight,

with car production falling 80% in the next three months.

In England, bentley sales plummet,

and woolf barnato, the company's main investor,

loses millions.

- W.O. Works as good as it's ever been,

but people aren't buying cars, not like they used to.

- It was a pretty calamitous time.

Buying cars like bentleys

was just no longer socially acceptable,

even for people who could afford them,

and there were very, very few of them.

- Leave the money to me.

You just get back to work

and keep doing what you do best.

Trust me.

(mellow music)

- [narrator] but barnato has had enough,

and initiates a plan

to force bentley into bankruptcy,

and off his books.

(tense music)

- he felt that he'd already poured

more than enough of his fortune into bentley.

I think he just felt, "well,"

you know, "I did my best."

- I want you to stop all payments

on behalf of bentley motors.

It's time to get this done off our books.

(upbeat music)

- [narrator] six years after joining mercedes-benz,

ferdinand porsche's ssk reigns

as the fastest car in the world.

Once again, a mercedes is a must-have car.

- These supercharged cars made mercedes famous.

Every racing driver wanted to have such an s type.

Many celebrities, movies stars,

it was a car you had to have in the late '20s.

- Ferdinand porsche really comes to be recognized

as probably the foremost german engineer of his generation.

- [narrator] but a widening depression reduces demand.

Production is cut to just 31 ssks,

and porsche's mind turns to a new, more timely challenge.

- Forget race cars.

Forget cars for the rich,

and start being driven by the people.

Build a car that the average family

in germany can afford,

like henry ford with his model t.

- Many companies and engineers

were thinking about a people's car,

a car for the mass motorization,

and europe, especially germany,

was very far away from this idea

because costs were extremely costly in these days.

- You know, if you can't see that,

I have no business here.

- [narrator] porsche quits mercedes-benz,

selling his life insurance

to fund his own people's car project.

But running your own car company is a dangerous game.

(energetic music)

- I don't like this, walter.

- How do you think I feel?

- [narrator] despite their brilliance,

by 1931, the bentley brothers are broke.

- Bentley found itself absolutely on the brink.

- [narrator] by withholding payments owed by bentley motors,

barnato forces the company into receivership.

- Woolf barnato has this image

of this playboy racing driver,

but he's also a super shrewd businessman

and pretty ruthless, too,

and he ultimately loses patience with bentley

and orchestrates its downfall.

- [narrator] setting up a sale

to a secret buyer.

(suspenseful music)

- boys, I got good news.

Everything's going to work out just fine.

- Gentlemen, let me introduce you

to your new employer, mr. Henry royce.

- Mr. Bentley.

Mr. Bentley.

(tense music)

it's a pleasure to finally meet you.

(tense music)

- I have heard it said that woolf man

(mumbles) threw w.O. Bentley under a bus,

but I think that w.O. Was already lying down

in front of the bus when it came along.

- [narrator] the buyout forces w.O.

To work for his rival, henry royce,

test driving rolls-royces,

barring him from designing the cars

that bear his own name.

- If you're w.O. Bentley, you must have felt

like you're on top of the world.

Your cars are winning le mans,

you'd being feted as this great engineer.

And ultimately, it all comes tumbling down.

So, it must have been mortifying.

- That's that.

(mellow music)

(planes roaring)

- [narrator] next time,

on the cars that built the world,

as fascism rises...

- I know you want to fill the streets

of germany with cars.

- [narrator] porsche's quest for a people's car

leads to a deal with the devil.

- Let me design them for you.

- Adolf hitler announces to the world

that germany is going to revolutionize the auto industry.

He's calling it the people's car, the volkswagen.

- [narrator] with car makers looking to motorize the masses,

the japanese see opportunity,

but not before another world war

turns the industry on its head.

- We have to go.

- [narrator] from the ruins of conflict.

- It's hard to be patient

when my employees are starving.

- [narrator] a new generation emerges.

(upbeat music)

- he expects perfection.

- Get the team together.

We're going to launch in america.