More power, improved roadholding, greater safety
Stuttgart, May 22, 2002
The Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek, who was living in Nice and
Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, is beguiled by the fashionable
new mode of transport, and by the cars' speed and performance. It
is not just the sporting cars themselves that inspire him though,
but the sales opportunities that their power and performance has opened
up. He makes no secret of the fact that the Daimler cars are his personal
favourite, and is particularly impressed by the precision craftsmanship
down to the finest detail. He had collected his first car from Cannstatt
back in 1897.
Just two years later, Jellinek is making a handsome living from export
sales of the Daimler cars. Nice in the South of France proves to be
a veritable goldmine, as it is here on the Cote d’Azur that the
exclusive clientele who are able to afford their own car are to be
found. In 1900 alone, the business-minded motoring enthusiast sells
28 Daimler vehicles, almost a third of the total production that year
of the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG).
In spring 1900, motor racing is all the rage on the Cote d’Azur.
March 30 marks the start of the Nice-La Turbie hill-climb, with the
starting grid including a 23-hp Phoenix racing car from DMG driven
by the plant foreman, Wilhelm Bauer. He is tragically killed, however,
when his car comes off the racetrack. Following the accident, DMG
adopts a much more reserved attitude towards motor racing. The unremitting
sportsman and salesman Emil Jellinek is unfazed however: just a few
days later on April 2, 1900 he commissions DMG to build a more competitive
car for the next race season, with an output of at least 35 hp, a
lighter engine and a lower centre of gravity. Those are his defining
criteria, "light, attractive and quick," together with the
proviso that the new cars sold by Jellinek would be named after the
businessman's ten-year-old daughter, "Mercedes". To add
extra substance to his detailed demands, Jellinek places an immediate
order for 36 vehicles in the requested specification, a sensational
order of unprecedented magnitude for DMG.
Jellinek is firmly convinced that the only person with the skill
to match his stipulations is DMG's gifted design chief, Wilhelm Maybach.
Maybach recognises instantly that the specifications warrant a fundamental
redesign of the car. How could this possibly be achieved by October
15 though, the requested delivery date? It is an almost superhuman
challenge.
35-hp four-cylinder engine marking a host of technical milestones
Maybach completely reworks the four-cylinder Phoenix engine: displacement
is increased to nearly six litres. The horizontally split crankshaft
is made from cast aluminium; the cast-iron cylinders are arranged
in pairs and the removable cylinder heads are replaced by a cast-on
design. Maybach uses magnalium, a special aluminium/magnesium alloy,
for the main bearings. The intake valves, which were previously opened
automatically by the vacuum forming in the engine, are controlled
for the first time by a camshaft. The non-encapsulated camshafts on
the left and right of the crankcase are driven by an open gearset
on the flywheel side.
The exhaust camshaft also serves the low-voltage magneto ignition,
the redesigned water pump and the radiator fan. Each pair of cylinders
is fitted with a spray-nozzle carburettor, yet another first. A lever
on the steering wheel is used for regulating the engine speed between
300 and a maximum of 1000 rpm. The engine has a power to weight ratio
of just six kilograms per horsepower, a new benchmark figure at the
time. And what is more, all these improvements together result in
a revolutionary change in the quality of the engine characteristics,
something which hardly anyone had believed possible.
When it comes to installing the drive unit in the chassis, Maybach
opts to leave out the auxiliary frame which had been customary up
until then. Instead, he simply narrows the front part of the frame
and bolts the engine directly onto the side members, which are manufactured
from pressed steel panelling for the first time. As well as trimming
the weight, this method also allows Maybach to achieve the lower centre
of gravity he is aiming for.
Jellinek enquires constantly about how work is progressing, first
sending telegrams then eventually travelling to Cannstatt in person
to see how his "Mercedes" is coming along. Maybach keeps
explaining and drafting as he works tirelessly on this car which was
to be unlike any other previously seen.
Easy-to-use four-speed transmission and revolutionary steering
The designer does not overlook even the tiniest detail. Another of
the car's pioneering new features, for example, is the extremely compact,
self-adjusting coil clutch. This consists of a coiled spring made
of wound spring steel which is attached onto the transmission shaft
and mounted within the flywheel by means of a small drum. A conical
cam governs the tension in the spring while declutching. Later models
benefit greatly from this particular development.
A single lever in a shift gate is used to engage the four forward
gears and reverse gear. Yet another new detail is the improved, lighter
helical-spindle steering, which is installed even further towards
the rear at a relatively slanted angle. The steering axles are extended
to the outer edges of the vehicle to be near to the wheel hubs. The
result of this is permanent damping of knocks transferred to the steering
by irregularities in the road surface. The long wheelbase, wider track
and the almost identical dimensions of the wheels at the front and
rear ensure that one of the hallmarks of the first ever Mercedes is
extremely stable handling.
The increase in engine performance needs to be matched by more powerful
brakes. Drum brakes measuring 30 centimetres across are fitted to
the rear wheels, which the driver is able to operate using a hand
lever. A foot-operated service brake is also fitted in the form of
a highly efficient, water-cooled cardan brake.
Powerful cooling system using honeycomb radiator
One of the inventions showcased in this first Mercedes which causes
the greatest stir, and which has essentially remained unchanged until
today, is the honeycomb radiator. The coiled-tube radiators which
had been the norm up until this point, were barely able to contain
the excessive water consumption of cars at the time. The radiator
of the 23-hp Phoenix racing car had already been redesigned by Maybach:
his "tubular radiator" as it was known comprised a whole
series of tubes, which allowed a higher airflow through the water
reservoir, which nevertheless had a capacity of 18 litres.
In the case of the Mercedes, the throughput of air is increased dramatically.
Maybach recognises that small tubes with a square cross section improve
the airflow, and consequently, the cooling capacity. A total of 8070
of these square-shaped tubes, each measuring six millimetres along
its edge, are soldered together to form a revolutionary, rectangular-shaped
radiator, including a small reservoir on top. The net result is a
reduction in the volume of water needed to just nine litres. For the
first time, a fan behind the radiator is used to boost cooling capacity
at low road speeds. The honeycomb radiator is born and the problem
of cooling in motor vehicles is finally laid to rest.
Record speed set during hill-climb race on the Cote d’Azur
The first trials of the new car take place on November 22, 1900 and
Jellinek takes delivery of the first ever "Mercedes" on
December 22 of the same year. Just three months later, a total of
five Mercedes models join the starting line-up for the Nice Speed
Week – and dominate the race from start to finish, reaching speeds
of up to 86 km/h. In the Nice–La Turbie hill-climb, the German-manufactured
cars average a speed of 51.4 km/h, smashing the previous best of 31.3
km/h.
Automotive experts and the general public alike are enthralled. The
general secretary of the Automobil Club de France, Paul Meyan, declares
later with awe, "Nous sommes entres dans l’ere Mercedes"
– "We have entered the Mercedes era." Following the
race, the French sports journal "L'Auto-Velo" is moved to
comment, "If any vehicle is going to pose a threat to us in this
international contest, then it is the Mercedes cars."
The design concept of history's first "true" car is soon
pointing the way forward for the rest of the car industry, and opens
up the design "floodgates". From now on, a sleek profile,
high performance, honeycomb radiator, low bonnet line, long wheelbase,
gate-type gearshift, slanted steering, almost identically sized wheels
front and rear, plus low weight are the key ingredients, the "essence"
as it were, of automotive engineering.
