To 135 Years of Passion!
Welcome to the launch of Das Erbe Collective!
We’re setting off on a journey to honor the heritage of automotive culture that has driven so many to travel the world and beyond to reach their passion. It’s our mission to follow this journey for petrol and the passions that truly connect us all. Yes, our stories will be automotive-inspired. Yes, we will also feature all passions that connect our driven culture. And yes, all of these stories and much more will be shared with you each week.
As we enter 2020 and welcome enthusiasts to celebrate the launch of Das Erbe Co. with us, we have to ask: What does the number 135 mean to you?
For vintage and classic car aficionados, they may call to mind the sweeping lines of the Delahaye 135, a French coach-built touring car crafted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s.
Those more in tune with modern cars likely think of the BMW E8X 135, produced from 2007 to 2013 and powered by either the N54 or N55 engines.
For us—and lovers of all things automotive—135 represents the years since the very first production example of a machine with which we’re all enthralled (some would say obsessed) rolled into the world in 1885, 135 years ago.
It was in 1885 that designer and engineer Karl Benz completed the Benz Patent-Motorwagen (he was awarded his patent in 1886 on January 29), a three-wheeler powered and propelled by an internal combustion engine: a rear-mounted 954-cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine also designed by Benz. The Patent-Motorwagen used a single-speed transmission and was made with tubular steel, steered via a tiller, and produced between 2/3 and 0.9 HP.
The automobile has existed in three different centuries: the 19th through the 21st. If we could go back in time with a collection of vehicles and show and tell Benz what people have achieved with his invention, he would likely be unable to process how far humanity has taken the automobile.
Not everything would be foreign, of course. Benz obviously grew up around carriages, so he’d be familiar with coachbuilding. Until the 1900s, most automobiles were motorized carriages and stagecoaches. In fact, fellow innovators Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach—themselves engine designers—chose to install a 1.1HP engine into a carriage in 1886. They had invented the world’s first internal combustion motorcycle the year prior.
Getting back to Benz. As a designer of engines himself, he would understand he was looking at a modern-day internal combustion motor if we popped open a hood for him. Additionally, Benz would understand we moved on from tillers and other ways of steering cars to the modern steering wheel since it was invented in 1894. And It’s safe to assume he had seen a Ford Model A before his death in 1929.
Benz would most likely understand the supercharger—the first is said to have been discovered in 1878 by fellow engineer Dugald Clerk while designing the world’s first successful two-stroke engine. Also, Benz’s compatriot and peer Daimler (their companies, of course, would one day merge to form Daimler-Benz AG, yet Benz and Daimler would never, by all reports, meet one another, even when Daimler sued Benz for violating one of his patents) received a patent in 1885 for a supercharger. Seventeen years later in 1902, a man in France, Louis Renault, patented the centrifugal supercharger.
Maybe he’d nod knowingly while being shown a turbocharged engine, even though the first production car with one wouldn’t appear until 1962: the Oldsmobile Jetfire. He was, after all, an engineer and engine inventor.
One thing Benz would certainly respect is the need to reliably control and stop all that power. His first automobile experienced a collision with a wall because it was challenging to control. Indeed, he’d be familiar with brake pads. After all, his wife and business partner Bertha Benz not only funded the Patent-Motorwagen with her dowry, she also invented the brake pad in 1888.
In August of that year, Bertha took a Patent-Motorwagen Model Number 3 on the first long-distance road trip (121 miles) by internal combustion engine with the couple’s two teenage sons to generate publicity for their automobiles. She performed the duties of a mechanic, refueled with a petroleum product called ligroin at a pharmacy (thereby creating the world’s first-ever filling station), and asked a shoemaker to nail leather to the brake blocks when they wore down. Bertha accomplished all that in 1888 with a 2HP engine capable of a max speed of 10MPH and managed to make a couple of revolutionary automotive inventions along the way.
To mark this revolutionary journey, a parade of antique automobiles honors Bertha’s trip every two years in Germany, and the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved in 2008, making it an official member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.
Now, imagine explaining the levels of torque and horsepower we’re now capable of reaching. Remember, Benz’s first automobile couldn’t generate a single, full horsepower. As mentioned above, the most powerful model of Benz Patent-Motorwagen had a whopping 2HP engine. Consider trying to explain to Benz the concept of hypercars boasting well over 1,000HP, propelled from 0-60 in under three seconds. His Model Number 3 engine was capable of reaching just 10MPH. In startling contrast, the 2021 Lotus Evija has been announced as “the most powerful car to ever enter production” at 2,000HP, estimated to reach 200MPH. Would he feel that undeniable rush of adrenaline if subjected to such ferocity and speed? Would he scream? Be rendered catatonic? Now imagine explaining to him that we’re working on cars that drive autonomously…
Let’s take this hypothetical a few steps backward from the face-melting hyper EVs and everything else that has been created because of his invention. What if we “keep it simple” showing Benz the all-new 2020 Mercedes Maybach GLS 600, a pinnacle of luxury motoring manufactured by the successor to the Daimler-Benz merger. The starting price alone would most likely be unfathomable to Benz: The Patent-Motorwagen originally cost the rough equivalent of $150 in 1886. A 2020 Mercedes Maybach GLS 600 will likely start at $200,000.
“Mercedes” wouldn’t become synonymous with Benz's name before Daimler’s company, DMG, merged with Benz & Cie. in 1926. DMG officially launched the Mercedes brand automobiles in 1902. It took a wealthy businessman, marketing strategist, automobile entrepreneur and racing enthusiast named Emil Jellinek to commission what is considered to be the first “modern car,” the Mercedes 35 PS (“HP” to English speakers), for the brand name to become one of the most famous in the world.
Jellinek named several of his possessions and business endeavors after his daughter’s nickname, Mercédès. One of his enterprises was a racing team—also named Mercedes—and the team fielded two DMG-Phoenix racing cars on March 30, 1900, in the Nice-La Turbie Hillclimb race. During the race, one driver, DMG chief mechanic Wilhelm Bauer, was killed after his DMG-Phoenix coach collided with a barrier.
Bauer’s death motivated Jellinek to demand what would prove to be revolutionary changes still seen in today’s cars. Before Jellinek tasked Maybach and Paul Daimler (Gottlieb’s son) with creating a new engine and model, automobiles were mostly high-bodied, narrow and unstable motorized coaches that were difficult to handle. Jellinek specified a car that was long and wide with a light steel body. He wanted a powerful engine (35HP!) that would be affixed to the chassis and offer a low center of gravity.
Daimler 23 HP “Phoenix” racing car. The most powerful Daimler racing car of the time competed in Nice Week in March 1900.
The Mercedes 35 HP, designed in 1901 by Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler, for Emil Jellinek
On December 22, 1900, Jellinek took delivery of the first-ever Mercedes. In March 1901, Jellinek would take several of these revolutionary machines back to the Nice-La Turbie Hillclimb, safely dominating the event. In that same year, the Mercedes brand was trademarked.
So, would the Mercedes-Maybach-branded SUV seem familiar to Benz? Would he find the proportions similar to horseless carriages and stagecoaches? What would he think after climbing aboard via the automatic running boards and sitting in the massaging driver’s seat, taking in the array of tech in the luxurious cabin? For that matter, what would Daimler, Maybach or Jellinek think of where we’ve led their innovations?
Would he fully grasp his enduring, 135-year-and-counting legacy? Would he understand the heritage of his invention, how it has become a global, multi-cultural phenomenon that has inspired passion, freedom, and advancements in not just his generation but every subsequent one since? We can only imagine, only hope that somehow Karl Benz knew he had changed the world.
We honor this legacy, passions, and the heritage—“Das Erbe”—by sharing these passions, the sense of community, and the automotive culture that has continuously inspired the world as we know it.
Here’s to the journey for petrol and passion!
Welcome to Das Erbe Collective!