Mercedes Benz cars, a brief history

by: HarveyWilliams
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Word Count: 1952

Over the years Mercedes have certainly had a great deal more successes than failures. Their cars so impressively designed are a shining example of how a quality car should engineered, but has it always been this way? Well certainly it has not always been easy for Mercedes; they have had to face many challenges throughout the years, many of which were completely out of their control. And some perhaps not; for example their more recent problems with build quality, which many believe were completely of Mercedes own making. Confidence in Mercedes dropped in the late 1990's when it became evident that both mechanical and electronic faults were on the increase. Contract hire and leasing brokers became worried about recommending Mercedes Benz to clients. The M class received the most criticism from motoring journalists.

In a survey carried out by The Consumer Association in 2003, Mercedes was downgraded by two categories, from best to average in reliability. Although to be fair all the German manufacturers came in for criticism, they said, "No major German marques have escaped the steady decline we have noticed in recent years". Interestingly the manufacturer that received the most complaints from those surveyed was Volkswagen.

Some feel that when the BBC's Top Gear programme gets a bee in its bonnet about a particular manufacturer, that they can go too far in their critisism. When they placed the Mercedes M Class last out of 142 cars surveyed, it did appear to be a little harsh but to be fair it wasn't that far out of line with what others were saying about the car. In any event Mercedes realised that things had to change and they have indeed changed; Mercedes Benz have made great strides in restoring their good name.

What became known as the world's first car was patented by Karl Benz in 1886. Benz was based in the town of Mannheim, he called his car the Benz Patent Motorwagen. It had just three wheels similar in width to today's bycycle wheels. The ride was bumpy and the passengers were as exposed as much to the elements, as if they were riding a bicycle. Driving at night would have been hazardous, as there were no light on the vehicle.

In the meantime a gentleman by the name of Gottleib Daimler along with William Maybach were also busy inventing a car powered by an internal combustion engine. The vehicle was called the Daimler Riding car. The engine had an upright cylinder from which it derived its name the Grandfather Clock. Daimler called his vehicle a car but it was in fact a motorcycle, the worlds first. With its one cylinder, its speed at full throttle was 13 Kilometres an hour. Neither Benz or Daimler knew of the other's work, even although they were only working about 100 Kilometres from each other.

When Daimler and Maybach completed their vehicle that they called the motorised carriage in 1886, they again used the Grandfather Clock engine. They had added 5 Kilometres per hour, the top speed was 18 Kilometres per hour. This vehicle had four wheels, which made it the worlds first four wheel car. The so called Wire Wheel Car that was produced by Daimler and shown at an exhibition in Paris in 1889, caused quite a stir. Seeing this vehicle on show at the exhibition is believed to encouraged the French to start manufacturing their own vehicles.

During the 1890's Benz was producing four wheel vehicles, with two, three and four seats. By now Benz had worked out how to make the front wheels turn independently of each other, this made the car a lot safer when negotiating bends.

The Velocipide was a 2 seater vehicle developed by Benz in 1894, of which he sold 1200. It was fast for its day, at around 20 kph. His motorized bus which followed was beautifully designed but unfortunatey rather impracticle; wheels were still narrow and with roads more suitable for horse drawn carriages,it soon proved impracticle.

In 1896 Daimler produced a belt driven car, this time with two cylinders but still with a top speed of only about 18 miles per hour. Daimler also produced the world's first truck, which had a flat bed and was rather strange looking; it had various cabinets for storeage, that looked rather like kitchen cabinets. It was very slow at about 11 kilometres per hour but very popular. German breweries bought them for delivering beer and some were sold in England. In the same year Daimler produced a vehicle for carrying heavy loads, up to 500 kgs.They looked rather like a motorized version of the covered wagon from the Wild West.

In 1899 Benz launched what was known as the Dos a Dos car where two passengers sat facing forward and two facing back, the car had an impressive speed of over 35 kilometres per hour.

When Daimler died in 1990, control of the company passed to William Maybach. A very succesful motor racing driver and businessman, Emil Jellinek told Maybach that he should produce cars that were faster and more modern in design. He also asked Maybach to call his cars Mercedes; his young daughter's name. This is where the name Mercedes, that the cars still carry today, originated.

During the 1990's Daimler was producing faster cars and of a more modern design. The 35 horsepower Simplex was relaced by by the 40 horsepower Mercedes Simplex; it ws an impressive single seater car that could reach speeds of 80 kph. A 40 horsepower Mercedes Simplex is thought to be the oldest Mercedes in existence today.

Benz launched the double Phaeton in 1905 it was 18 hp, but it was followed by the Double Phaeton two years later that was 75 horsepower. The car which had six cylinders, could achieve speeds of 94 kilometres per hour. Both Benz and Mercedes were starting to have success in motor racing.

During the First World War both Benz and Daimler's production were converted into producing materials for the war effort. The German economy suffered badly at the end of the war, there was a shortage of fuel and a heavy luxury tax had been placed on car production, inflation was starting to get out of control. The cost of a car became so high it was out of most people's reach. A far cry from today where a luxury Mercedes can be found on contract hire from around 300 per month.

It is said that in 1924 Daimler made an approach to Benz and proposed a merger but it did not go ahead. However during 1924 economic conditions were taking their toll on both companies and a merger agreement was signed by the parties and was finalized in 1926.

After the war Mercedes launched a sports car, it had two seats and a supercharged engine, the top speed was impressive at over 108kph. In 1927 Mercedes Benz then produced a touring car; they called it the Model S, the Model S was even faster at 160 kph. At the time it was hard to imagine that greater speeds could be achieved but one year later the SSK Sports was launched. It seems strange that it was specifically produced for hill climb racing, because one would have thought that that was quite a limited market. It had an extraordinary top speed approaching 200 kph.

The next really spectacular car produced by Mercedes Benz was the Mercedes-Benz 500K, in 1934. The Special Roadster was the most popular version with long sleek lines, it would still be considered by most today, as a beautiful car. It had eight cylinders and a top speed of 160 Kilometres per hour. It was really very expensive at 28,000 Marks and only for the seriously rich.

The 540K was introduced out as the successor to the 500. It looked very similar but was faster at around 170 kph. Mercedes also launched the Mercedes Benz 770 a luxurious limousine in which many of Germany's top industrialists would be chauffeured. The numbers of each model that were produced was low in those days; only around 120 of this model were manufactured and even in the case of the 540K, less than 120 were made.

Mercedes were accused of using forced labour and prisoners of war, for their manufacturing, during the Second World War. They had become part of the German war effort but of course it wasn't a matter of choice; the British motor manufacturers were also part of the British War effort. The allied bombers, just as the German bombers targeted factories in Britain, heavily targeted the Mercedes manufacturing plants. At the end of the war, things looked very bleak for Mercedes; their factories lay in ruins, the machinery was damaged or destroyed and there was an extreme shortage of raw materials. Nevertheless in 1948 production was re started. 1951 saw the introduction of the 300 saloon, over 4500 were sold. The Mercedes Benz 300S convertible also went into production.

The motoring world didn't quite know what had hit them, when the two door hardtop Mercedes Gull Wing was launched in the 1950s. It had two doors that opened up which did indeed look very much like gull's wings. It was by any standards an amazing design. It cost $10,000 in The United States, which was a considerable amount of money; nevertheless they were highly popular and a great deal were sold. A Gull Wing Mercedes was sold at auction during 2006 for $777,240 Australian Dollars approximately $715,000 American Dollars. 1957 saw the launch of the Mercedes 300 SL; Americans bought a considerable number of the 300 SL. It was fast, reaching almost 250 kph, which is over 150 mph.

As long ago as the 1960s Mercedes were carrying out quite sophisticated vehicle testing, sophisticated that is, for those times. It is hard to imagine in today's world of high technology that the system they used for transmitting data from the test vehicle to another vehicle that gathered the information was a long cable, running between the two cars. Clearly it was important for both vehicles to drive at the same speed.

During 1963 Mercedes Benz launched the 230SL, the first sports car to have a crumple free zone. It was not particularly fast compared with some of the previous models; it had a top speed of less than 200 Kilometres per hour. It was however hugely popular selling, nearly 20,000 models. Mercedes had come a long way from the days when they were making just a few hundred of each model. In 1978 Mercedes Benz introduced anti lock brakes (ABS). In 1981 they were the first manufacturer to introduce the airbag. One can only speculate on the number of lives and serious injuries, those safety features will have saved over the years.

When Mercedes Benz launched the 190E in 1982, who would have thought at the time, that 638,000 would be sold over the course of the next eleven years. During the 1980s and 1990s Mercedes were enjoying considerable success. In 1998 the company merged with The Chrysler Corporation of America and Daimler Chrysler was formed. As is so often the case with these mergers/takeovers, it didn't work out and Chrysler having initially invested $36 billion sold 80.1% of the company for $7.4 billion in 2007. The purchaser was Cerberus Capital Management.

Mercedes are now concentrating on their build quality and restoring confidence in the marque and in turn contract hire and leasing companies are confident in recommending Mercedes Benz to their clients. Soon they will hopefully be once again, classed as best for reliability.

Should you have any queries or questions with regard to Licence checking, Fleet Management, Contract Hire, Personal Contract Hire, Lease Purchase or vehicle Hire Purchase, please do not hesitate to contact us. Bowater Price plc 01494 536 536. www.bowaterprice.com.

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