A Daimler triptych (Part 1)

Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz are inextricably linked to the origins of the combustion engine and the automobile. An earlier newsletter article already discussed Benz, but Daimler is certainly just as interesting.

The Daimler brand has existed almost as long as the car itself. That is probably common knowledge. What not everyone may know is that Daimler had several different incarnations, which were defined by their country of origin. These were Germany, England and Austria.

In the early 1890s, Daimler worked at the German company Deutz on a combustion engine. After he had earned enough money to start out on his own, he settled in Canstatt, where he and Wilhelm Maybach set up a workshop and further developed the combustion engine. It eventually became an air cooled single cylinder engine that produced about 1.5 hp. Daimler mounted this engine in a vehicle that resembled a motorcycle. As recorded in the annals, this is the only motorcycle that Daimler (and their so called successors) would ever build. This Einspur was also called Reitwagen, because the riding position resembled that of a horse rider. In a sense, the Einspur already had modern features such as wheels of equal size, a twist grip throttle and flexible mounting of the engine block. The vehicle had wooden wheels and small wheels on the sides to prevent it from tipping over, and is regarded as the worlds first motorcycle with a gasoline engine.

In the area around Cannstatt, extensive tests were carried out with this vehicle. However, Maybach felt that a "real" car needed to be built, and that eventually happened. A four wheeler with four seats saw the light of day and was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, where the interest was enormous. The car had a tubular frame and steel wheels with wire spokes, hence the name "Stahlradwagen". The engine was by then a V twin. The French car manufacturers Peugeot and Panhard & Levassor were mainly interested in the Daimler engine and would also use it in their first cars, before taking engine development into their own hands.

However, it was a turbulent period. Daimler and Maybach turned their backs on "their" company and went their own way. This period is known as the "Hotel Hermann" period, named after the hotel where the gentlemen were staying. During this time Daimler developed the "atomizer" carburetor, which would later become the successor to the so called surface carburetor. The dispute between Daimler and Maybach on the one hand and the factory on the other was settled, and after some time they returned to their old home. Their creativity was not yet exhausted, and in 1899 a four cylinder engine with no less than 28 hp was developed, which was installed in a car bought by Emil Jellinek, a businessman and Consul from Nice. He gave his car the name of his daughter, Mercedes.

Jellinek had a major influence on Daimler's policies. He was appointed to the board as a commissioner and was responsible for the brand's increasing sales. In 1902, Daimler's cars were given the brand name Mercedes. Trucks and similar vehicles continued to carry the name Daimler.

Some members of Daimler's management founded a car factory in Berlin in 1899, called M.M.B. However, the cars produced by this company did not come close to the quality of the "original" brand. After the death of Gottlieb Daimler in 1902, that factory was taken over by the "real" Daimler. Under the name Daimler-Marienfelde (Berlin) or Milnes-Daimler (in England), commercial vehicles were subsequently manufactured. Besides the "renegade" M.M.B., there were, however, several other factories that used the name Daimler for their products.

The best known is probably the English version, also called Daimler of course. In 1893 F.R. Simms acquired the rights to Daimler engines. In 1896, after he had joined forces with the industrialist H. J. Lawson, the first cars were delivered. Some were imported, others were in fact copies of existing Daimler models. Incidentally, Gottlieb Daimler was a director (supervisory board member) of that company.

The fact that the then Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, bought a Daimler immediately gave the brand a certain cachet. The cars were fitted with a radiator that was ribbed at the top, a feature that over the years made the Daimler brand highly recognizable. The "English branch" went its own way and produced cars that were of comparable quality to the products from Germany. In the 1920s Daimler built its top model, the Double Six, a very large car equipped with a twelve cylinder sleeve valve engine. This car too ensured lasting custom from the British royal family, something Rolls Royce at the time will have been less pleased about.

Changes in management after the Second World War led to different insights. Illustrative of this is the Golden Zebra Daimler, which was built on behalf of Lady Docker. This model, finished in zebra hide, which attracted a lot of attention but no buyers for Daimlers other models at the London Motor Show, can in fact be seen at the Louwman Museum. Since the 1960s, Jaguar cars could be supplied as Daimlers (distinguishing feature: the ribbed grille), but today the illustrious Daimler brand has, at least for the time being, disappeared from the scene.

The same thing that happened in England at the end of the nineteenth century also took place in Austria. Daimler set up a subsidiary there in Wiener-Neustadt, where the production of 100 Daimlers was initially planned. This branch, taking into account the country in which it was based, was called Austro-Daimler. In 1906 the Austrian subsidiary was financially separated from the parent company in Cannstatt and more or less went its own way. Shortly afterwards a talented engineer, Ferdinand Porsche, was appointed as designer/director. His influence soon became noticeable. Just like the former parent company, Austro-Daimler entered motor racing. An important success was achieved in the Prinz Heinrich Fahrt of 1910, which Ferdinand Porsche, at the wheel of one of his creations, won.

The Austrian cars were generally sportier in character than the products of the former parent company. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hans Stuck was very successful at the wheel of an Austro-Daimler in hill climbs.

Ferdinand Porsche returned to Daimler in Germany in 1923, but his successor Rabe continued his tradition in the sense that Austro-Daimler kept producing high-quality cars. In the late 1920s they entered into a partnership with the (former) arms factory Steyr, which had by then started producing vehicles, as well as with the likewise Austrian company Puch. After the Second World War Austro-Daimler almost disappeared. They only built small Fiats under license, but in the 1970s they stopped as a passenger car manufacturer. Steyr has since been taken over by the Canadian company Magna.

The products of Gottlieb Daimler had by then taken root in three countries, but his own country naturally remained important. The names Daimler and Benz, inextricably linked to the birth of the automobile, began working together from the early 1920s, and this ultimately resulted in a merger in which the name Mercedes became even more prominent. The group was called Daimler Benz, but all the vehicles were called Mercedes. Thanks to the daughter of Emil Jellinek.

In Part 2 we describe the progress of this new and now very prominent brand.

Peter Helbach