That Built

That Built is an American television franchise a docudrama broadcast on The History Channel that covers various historic subjects and the notable people involved roughly spanning the Industrial Revolution of the 1860s to the present. The series started with the miniseries The Men Who Built America in 2012.

To date, the longest running of these series is The Food That Built America, which premiered on August 11, 2019. The fourth season premiered on February 19, 2023.

List

• The Men Who Built America (2012)
• The Cars that Made America (2017)
• The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen (2018)
• The Food That Built America (2019–)
• The Cars That Built the World (2020)
• The Titans That Built America (2021)
• The Machines That Built America (2021)
• The Engineering That Built the World (2021)
• The Toys That Built America (2021, 2022, 2023)
• The Booze, Bets and Sex That Built America(2022)
• The Mega-Brands That Built America(2023)

The Cars That Built the World

Episode 1: Fueling invention

See also: Bertha Benz Memorial Route

In 1888, Bertha Benz drives a Benz Motorwagon to her mother home. The car uses ligroin as fuel while bring much-needed proof of concept for her husband's car.

In the 1890s, Charles Rolls is a wealthy aristocrat designing luxury cars in England.

On the other hand, Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan wants to make cars available for the purchasing power of the average consumer. Ford's first vehicle is the Quadricycle. This four horsepower car is over five times as powerful as the Benz Motorwagon which premiered in the 1880s.

In the 1890s, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach partner to build the world's most powerful car engine. Maybach comes up with a new idea: atomize the fuel into a mist to mix with the air in the carburetor.

Emil Jellinek, a wealthy businessman, quickly becomes Daimler's biggest and "most difficult customer."

In the United States, Ransom Olds unveils the first assembly line.

In 1901, mechanical engineer Henry Royce is working to design perfect cars in England.

Maybach is the first to place the engine in the front while putting the driver behind it within the chassis. He is under immense pressure from Jellinek to produce a that is both safe and powerful. To cool the heating engine, Maybach devices a honeycomb grill that becomes the radiator. In December 1901, Daimler and Maybach deliver the radiator for Jellinek's Mercedes.

Episode 2: Create a Market, Build an Empire

Charles Rolls buys planes from the Wright brothers. He becomes the first person to fly to France and back to Britain.

In 1910, 22-year-old W. O. Bentley advises his brother to move into the car business and away from trains. Bentley designs cars for Doriot, Flandrin & Parant (D.F.P.).

Bentley's idea is to use aluminum pistons. "Pistons captures the energy of the internal combustion engine, moving it through the crankshaft to the wheels." Bentley's idea to use aluminum in lieu of steel will improve engine performance.

Billionaire Woolf Barnato becomes a celebrated race car driver for Bentley.

In the 1920s, Ferdinand Porsche becomes the technical director for Paul Daimler's company.

With plummeting sales in the 1920s, Daimler and Benz are forced to merge in order to stay afloat. Porsche designs the Mercedes SSK.

Barnato forces the Bentley brothers to turn their company into a receivership of Henry Royce.

Episode 3: Motorize the Masses

Adolf Hitler commissions Ferry Porsche and his father to design an affordable line of "People's Car" which becomes known as Volkswagen.

In Japan, Kiichiro Toyoda is the only son of a wealthy textile magnate.

Also in Japan, Soichiro Honda doesn't hail from a well-to-do family. Without a university education, Honda teaches himself mechanical engineering by training as a mechanic.

In 1937, Honda pitches his piston rings to Toyoda. At the time, Nissan and Mitsubishi are well-established car-makers in Japan.

The Kübelwagen was the German equivalent of a Jeep.

After World War II, Ferdinand Porsche is forced to improve the designs of Renault by the French Forces in Germany.

Episode 4: Winning the World Over

After WWII, Ferry Porsche designs the Porsche 356.

In Japan, Takeo Fujisawa becomes Soichiro Honda's top salesman.

Eiji Toyoda wants to make cars that can compete in the global and especially the American market.

After WWII, Heinrich Nordhoff becomes Volkswagen's new president.