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The Birth of an Engine: Carl Benz
Since 1878, Carl Benz has been working on an engine to help him bring his dream of a "vehicle without horses" to fruition. He gets his gas-driven two-stroke engine to run on New Year's Eve 1879. -
Benz & Cie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim
Benz leaves his first company in January of 1883, so he meets up with business partners Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Esslinger. They create the company Benz & Cie. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim. The company is very successful in its early years; they hired 25 employees rapidly. -
The Birth of an Engine: Gottlieb Daimler
Using his knowledge of working in a machine tool factory and his friend Wilhelm Maybach, who he met in 1865, Gottlieb Daimler turned his greenhouse into a workshop. Daimler developed a petrol-driven four-stroke engine in 1882, but worked with Maybach in 1884 to create an internal combustion engine called the "Grandfather Clock", due to its appearance. This engine outputs about 0.8kw and has a speed of about 600 rpm. The "Grandfather Clock" paves the way for them to install it in a vehicle. -
The Daimler Riding Car
This was the world's first motorcycle, and it was based on the Grandfather Clock template. Daimler and Maybach built this together with a single-cylinder engine. It became known as the "Daimler Reitwagen", or "Riding Car", with the engine stalled vertically inside a wooden frame. Daimler receives a patent for this machine, DRP 36423. -
The Benz Motor Car
Carl Benz tweaks an existing engine of his that's less efficient than Daimler's, but he does it for a specific purpose. Benz wants to create the first car. It's a four-stroke engine that goes up to "'only'" 400 rpm, but he can install it in his "independent construction" (the first car). Benz's car the engine and a large, horizontally mounted flywheel. He creates the car with three wheels, and he does so because he was unhappy with the single-pivot steering used in carriages. -
Bertha Benz
Carl and Bertha Benz married on July 20, 1872. She was always a big supporter and encourager of Carl's, and with her go-getter attitude, she turns out to be imperative to the success of Carl Benz. In order to spread the word about Benz's cars in a positive way, she takes her two sons Eugen (15) and Richard (14) on a 100 kilometer trip to Bertha's mother's house. She successfully completes the route, which spreads the word about the reliability of the car, Benz's business was the talk of the town -
New Business Partners: Benz
Despite the increase in demand of stationary engines, Carl Benz continued to dream about a horseless carriage. His business partners, Rose and Esslinger, were growing skeptical of Benz's idea and told him to not waste his time on motor cars. Benz replaces his partners with Julius Ganss and Friedrich von Fischer. With these new shareholders, the company becomes the second-largest engine manufacturer in Germany. -
The Velocipede
The Velocipede (the "Velo") was produced by Rheinischen Gasmotoren-Fabrik Benz & Cie. It was lightweight, reasonably priced, and produced from 1894 to 1901. The Velo was the first mass-produced automobile. This vehicle skyrockets the company's name, increasing their profits. The workforce increases from 50 employees to 430. -
The First Truck
Daimler introduces the world's first truck to the market in 1896. He makes these for English customers, as the demand is low in Germany until the Prussian and Bavarian army subsidizes trucks suitable for war. It has a two-cylinder "'Phoenix'" engine in the back and a load capacity of 1500kg. -
The Mercedes Grand-Prix Racing Car
The Mercedes Grand-Prix Racing Car was seen as the most technologically advanced for its time. The sides of the car are moved up considerably to protect the rider, and the engine is based on Maybach's race-car four-cylinder design. It's a more powerful engine, too, with a power output of 96 kW (130 hp) at around 1,400 rpm. -
The Logo
The successful "Mercedes" brand-name is patented, but there's no symbol to accompany it. Daimler's sons, Adolf and Paul, get together to try and create one. They both remember that their dad used a star for a symbol, and the company follows that inspiration. They experiment with a three-pointed star and a four-pointed star. Both are protected, but it's the three-pointed star that adorns all vehicles from 1910 onwards, even after the merge. -
Daimler-Benz AG
After World War I, there's a time of inflation and poor sales across the European economy. Many companies are abandoned or forced to merge in order to survive the hard times, so DMG and Benz & Cie. (competitors for many years) decide to work together in May 1924. This is when they introduce their product, Mercedes-Benz Automobil GmbH, under the name "Mercedes-Benz". -
The Merge
After producing a car together, the two companies merge under the brand name "Daimler-Benz AG". They present their first line of cars at the 1926 Berlin Motor Show, and they also present their first two passenger cars: the 8/38 hp two-liter car (W 02) and the 12/55 hp three-liter model (W 03). -
The Mercedes-Benz W 25
In addition to Grand-Prix racing, Mercedes also makes cars for speed records. This car has a V12 engine, but it cannot be raced in the Grand Prix due to the weight limitations imposed by the new rules. This car was developed in a wind tunnel for maximum aerodynamics (for the time). On October 26, driver Rudolf Caracciola sets new records in the "B" class (5-8 liter displacement; this car has a 5.7 liter displacement) in the one-kilometer, one-mile, and five-mile run. The top speed was 372.1km/h. -
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 194)
After World War II, Mercedes cannot create a Grand-Prix car according to the previous formula due to new rules. They have to start with the same existing components (from their Mercedes-Benz 300 (W 186)), and they turn it into something new. This car is super lightweight, and it's powered by a six-cylinder engine. Due to the spaceframe, the door pivots from the top, earning the nickname "Gullwing". It's first debut was in 1952 in Italy.
