What do you know about Mercedes-Benz as a car marque? The legend
behind the three pointed star has a lot going for itself. Of-course, who could
be bothered to dig out the history behind one of the most prestigious car makers
in the world, right? Well, don’t wonder no longer as all of it has been done
for you. At least some of it anyways! Right then, let’s get on with it.
1. The
three-wheeled Patent Motorwagen conceived during the black & white years of
the 1880s (1886 to be precise) was regarded as the first of the ground based,
internal combustion powered automobile. It was nothing like the car as we know
now. With a single cylinder engine, it developed 2/3 of a horsepower. They
should have called it 1 pony-power then. Just a thought!
2. We’ve
learnt the Benz connection to the marque we know today. But how did the
Mercedes name crawl up before the inventor’s name himself? Well, that has a
story in itself. The name came from one of the most loyal customers that Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft
(Karl Benz’s Company name) had back then. That customer was Emil Jellinek. He
was a successful businessman and a complete speed-freak who entered several races with
Diamler-built cars under the pseudonym “Mercedes” – The name of his
daughter. Because of the mad businessman’s success, Dialmer also earned good reputation.
It was in 1902 when the name Mercedes-Benz was registered and all the subsequent
cars were sold with the same name. A perfect example of how powerful a good customer
can be. Epic!
3. How
many of you know the relevance behind the Mercedes’ ‘three-pointed-star’ logo?
Each point embodied mobility on land, water and in the air. But there was
nearly a fourth one to represent space. But back then it was dodgy to get to
the almighty world of zero gravity and endless scope of catastrophic error games.
It was probably a good call by the sensible Germans to leave that dimension out.
4. By
the early 1920s, the Germans had competition from America. Ford’s Model T was
making a solid case for itself with a more sensible approach. To stay in
business in the slow moving economy after the First World War, the German car
maker sold bicycles under its badge. Yup, bicycles! In fact, times were so
desperate that even a typewriter was considered for mass production but that
one never made it.
5. Mercedes
race cars never had paint on the body. At least not the early ones. Not because
they forgot to put it on every time, but they had thought about it in a German
manner. Nerd moment - Every country chose their racing colours with Germany
opting for the colour white. However, eggheads over at the Mercedes central
found that the race car they would eventually enter with in the racing league
was 1 Kg heavier with the paint on. To save weight and to increase the car’s
performance, they scrapped off the paint altogether leaving the shining steel
silver on the show.
6. Adolf
Hitler – The Nazi Leader, was a big Mercedes fan. It was him who funded the
entire program to establish two of the German car makes - Mercedes and Auto
Union (Audi as we know today). The mission was simple – showcase the German
technological prowess to the world. The Mercedes-Benz 770 with a bulletproof windshield
(of-course) was the leader’s choice of car for his roaming about. Now,
Mercedes had to account on it as they couldn’t say to no to him in any possible
manner.
7. Let
alone the autonomous-mobiles of today, it was Mercedes who cracked the
self-driving cars back in the 1980s. Backed by a funding from the European
Union, Mercedes developed an autonomous S-class which drove itself from Germany
to Copenhagen in Denmark in 1995 with speeds reaching as high as 175 Kmph.
8. Stuttgart
in Germany is also known as “Benztown”. No points for guessing, it was where
the Patent Motorwagen was invented.
9. In
1978, the S-Class was the first car to have ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) as
standard. The technology is still being used a must-have in today’s cars.
10. The
S-Class unveiled in 1981 was the first mass production car which had a
driver-side airbag.
That was more like a history lesson with some facts
adding that icing on the cake. I’d like to leave you all with another jaw-dropping
fact about Mercedes of today. They spend in-excess of INR 9.5 crore in R&D
alone every single day!
