Mercedes

ountless interesting histories abound about the origins of the various automobile marques but hardly one as fascinating as that of Mercedes-Benz. And doubtless no other insignia arouses such jealousy and envy as the three-pointed star unless you happen to be seated in the vehicle it adorns.

The story begins with two men, Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900) and Karl Benz (1844-1929) who were in the process of simultaneously building the world's first gasoline-fueled automobiles. Daimler worked on his in Karlstadt and Benz on his in Mannheim, only a hundred kilometers away, but neither aware of the activity of the other.

Both pioneers finally succeeded in beginning commercial production after many difficulties. At the end of 1883 Benz founded a company Firma Benz & Cie., Rheiniches Gasmotorensfabrik in Mannheim. Benz One of the share holders was Max Rose who later represented the Adler bicycles of Heinrich Kleyer who was to move on to automobile business. Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft AG was founded in 1890 and William Maybach featured in this enterprise. Small indeed were the circles of the automotive world more than a century ago.

t first the Daimler company only intended to manufacture engines which were supplied to Panhard & Levassor and Peugeot among others but as the engine business was very lucrative, the company dared to venture into automobile production also.

In 1896 Daimler gained Emil Jellinek (1853-1918) as a client. He was a wealthy businessman, born in Austria but living in Nice on the French Riviera. Jellinek was a speed addict: when he was 19 he had to give up a promising career with the railways when he had persuaded a locomotive engine driver to join him for a nocturnal speed test. Now that the automobile was commercially available he first bought a three-wheeled de Dion-Bouton, then a L‚on Boll‚e and a Benz until he heard of Daimler. He visited the factory and bought the car but was severely disappointed at the top speed of only 25 km/h. He demanded 40 km/h.

Discussions with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach had convinced Jellinek that the company could do better. The German engineers were concerned with reliability and safety but Jellinek remained firm: "Don't voice your concerns to me, build stronger engines and take care of it in any way that you want. I order four Daimlers and also pay for them. I personally take the responsibility for driving at 40 km/h, you are not risking anything in that respect.

Mercedes Kühler

Jellinek got what he wanted and reported: " Gentlemen, your worries had no foundation. I've driven the cars at 42 km/h and they haven't disintegrated and I myself still remain in one piece too."

At the same time Jellinek presented more demands: the engine had to be front-mounted and of four cylinders. Based on this Daimler developed a 24-horsepower Phoenix model which Jellinek used to win his class in La Turbie hill-climb in 1899. Impressed by the feat, baron Arthur de Rothschild, a wealthy amateur racing driver wanted a car of similar specifications and thus Jellinek became the Daimler representative at Riviera. During his first year he sold more than 30 cars.

The success was dimmed by the death of Wilhelm Bauer in the 1900 race of La Turbie. Jellinek claimed that the reason for the accident was that the car was too tall and heavy. " One of our best man fell a victim to your poorly designed monster", Jellinek wrote. Mercedes

Jellinek outlined a specification for a completely new type of a car: longer wheelbase, wider track, lower center of gravity, 35 horsepower engine. Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb's son Paul Daimler (1869-1945) responded to the demands and completed the first cars in six months. Jellinek had promised to buy the whole production run and this he did, receiving all the 36 cars. It was the biggest single order ever made up to that time.
Jellinek also demanded that the car he "designed" would be named after Mercedes at least in France, Austria and USA where Jellinek held the exclusive selling rights to Daimler. Eventually Daimler consented by giving the name to all his cars.

lthough in the first race, the Pau Grand Prix in February 1901, the new car didn't finish, it was quite obvious that it would become successful. Officially the Mercedes name was registered 23.6.1902. Jellinek was so enthused by the Mercedes name that in 1903 he changed his surname to Mercedes-Jellinek. He boasted to be "the first man ever to take his daughter's name". Jellinek's relationship with the Daimler company soured especially after Wilhelm Maybach had left the company and broke for good in 1908. The Mercedes name survived the acrimony, however.

Gottlieb Daimler passed away before the first Mercedes automobile was born. Before his death his sons reminded him about the post card he had sent to his wife. The card had a star printed on it and Gottlieb had predicted that "one day this star shall shine over my factory". The star was chosen as a theme for the company's symbol.

It wasn't until 1909, however, that Daimler officially introduced the star. Initially some uncertainty prevailed concerning the type of the star; three- or four-pointed, and both were in use. Three points symbolizing the Daimler engines on land, sea and in the air, proved to be the best choice. A half a century later Lincoln Continental adopted the four-pointed star and Chrylser the five-pointed. Obviously both had been inspired by the Mercedes star. Mercedes Benz The star-nosed Mercedes and the wreath-adorned Benz both operated independently until 1926 when the automobile industry and the whole economy was in a deep recession in Germany. The number of automobile manufacturers in Germany had dropped from 77 to 30. When the United States produced 4,5 million cars yearly at the time, all of Europe could only manage half a million, Germany being responsible for one tenth of the production. In the US 30 cars a day was considered the minimum profitable output whereas in Germany the factories averaged seven a day. At Ford six persons worked on each car while at Daimler a similar study yielded 1750 persons.

aimler and Benz production together in 1925 was only 3666 passenger cars, less than in 1911. The following year the the production dropped by more than one third. Benz had another problem: more than 45% of the shares were owned by one Jakob Schapiro who was a speculator. The banks in charge of financing the companies agreed to embark on a refinancing program which required merging Daimler and Benz to get rid of Schapiro. This was completed in June of 1926 and the new Daimler-Benz AG insignia united the Mercedes star with the Benz laurels.

And what happened to the young girl who loaned her name to the car? Her first marriage to Baron von Schlossen ended in divorce and her second husband, a sculptor, Baron Weigl died at an early age. Mercedes lived in Vienna until 1929.