Wilhelm Maybach (1846 - 1929)

Wilhelm Maybach

Wilhelm Maybach told a reporter in 1921, on his 75th birthday, that he 'was born on the 9th February, 1846, the second of five sons of a skilled carpenter in Heilbronn on the Neckar. After the untimely deaths of my father and mother when I was ten years old, I went to that well known friend of orphan children, Father Werner, in the Bruderhaus in Reutlingen.'

Gustav Werner

The Bruderhaus Maschinenfabrik had been founded by Gustav Werner, a former theologian, in order to bring up orphans in an atmosphere which combined Christian brotherly love with the progressive spirit of the Industrial Revolution. Hardly surprisingly, it was not very successful, but its lack of success was a major factor in cementing a relationship which would become a cornerstone in the development of the motor car.

In 1863, the 29-year-old Gottlieb Daimler was appointed to reorganise the affairs of the Bruderhaus. He spent six frustrating years there, during which time he actually persuaded this hair-shirt amalgam of industrial capitalism and Christian socialism to show a modest profit and, when he left to take over the management of the Maschinenbau Gesellschaft Karlsruhe, he took Maybach with him, finding the young man a job in the design office.

Maybach was in the depths of depression when Daimler suggested that the two of them should go into partnership to work on Daimlers ambition - an internal-combustion engine - and, on 18 April 1882, a contract was drawn up between them which confirmed that Maybach would take up the position of engineer and designer with Daimler in Cannstatt, 'to work out and execute various projects and problems in mechanics as Daimler shall direct'.

Designing the V-Twin and Steelwheeler

Maybach started work in Daimler's workshop in Cannstatt in October 1882. Without Maybach's assistance, Daimler would almost certainly have been unable to develop the high-speed, lightweight engine that he patented in 1885 (the first prototype was running in 1883). The concept may have been Daimler's, but the detailed design and construction were the work of Maybach. Next, Maybach devised the V-twin engine which was to be the basis of Daimler production during the early 1890s, and in December 1888 designed the so-called 'Steelwheeler' car around this power unit.

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft

In November 1890, the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was formed so that Daimler could acquire the capital necessary to place his venture on a proper basis; his partners were Max Duttenhofer, a gunpowder manufacturer, and Wilhelm Lorenz, a cartridge maker. Hardly surprising, it proved to be an explosive mixture, as the two capitalists held the majority of company stock, and had conceived a dislike for Maybach, whom they contemptuously called 'the old man'. They soon succeeded in ousting him in favour of their own nominee, and then brought in Gustav Visoher as commercial director.

A Commercially Absurd Whim

Visclier was a textile-spinning expert with no knowledge of internal-combustion-engine technology, and his appointment was a direct contravention of the promise given by Duttenhofer and Lorenz that Daimler would be in sole management of the new company; moreover, Lorenz called the horseless carriage 'a commercially absurd whim', and was adamant that Daimler should concentrate on developing stationary engines. After little more than a year had passed, Daimler had broken away from the company and set up his own experimental workshop in the great summer hall of the moribund Hotel Herrmann, where he and Maybach could continue unhindered to develop a new design of rapid-revolution engine, the Phonix, a twin-cylinder in-line unit fitted with Maybach's latest invention, the spray carburettor.

This was not an entirely new idea - Edward Butler had fitted a similar device to his 1884 Petrol-cycle - but Maybach's carburettor was a sophisticated instrument compared with the surface carburettors then commonly in use. In the interests of smoothness and simplicity of operation, this power unit was combined with belt drive in the partnership's new car. When, in 1895, Daimler became reconciled with his partners, one of the conditions was that Maybach should become technical director. In his new position, Maybach developed several new models to the requirements of a rich customer called Emil J ellinek, an Austrian resident in Nice, who was obsessed with the idea of extracting more performance from his cars.

The Daimler Model N

It was to suit Jellinek that the power of the Daimler Model N was uprated from 6 to 7.5 hp. However, this was not enough, and in 1899 Maybach produced the 23 hp Phonix Daimler, which had a front-mounted, four-cylinder engine and was very fast, although difficult to handle, with the characteristics of the elephant rather than the gazelle. Nevertheless, Jellinek regarded Maybach's abilities highly, and even tried to woo him away from Daimler with the tempting offer of a factory of his own in Paris, backed by Vanderbilt and Rothschild money. He guaranteed Maybach a ten-year contract, a salary of 100,000 francs a year and a share of the profits. However, Maybach was a curiously unworldly man, who saw no reason to leave Germany for a vastly increased income; what he still had to achieve, he said, he could achieve in Cannstatt, and no amount of argument could persuade him to change his mind.

The Passing of Gottlieb Daimler

A major turning-point in his career was about to occur, however, as on the 6th March 1900, Gottlieb Daimler, who had been unwell for some time, died. A fortnight later, in the La Turbie hill-climb near Nice, Wilhelm Bauer received fatal injuries when his Phonix-Daimler crashed into a rock face. Then, on the 2nd April, Emil Jellinek concluded an agreement which gave him preference over all corners in ordering and selling Daimler cars: three events within one month which were to make motoring history. Now that Jellinek had such an important influence over the Daimler marketing policy, he was quick to act. A hint of the course he would take was contained in that sales contract: 'A new type of engine will be produced and will bear the name Daimler-Mercedes'.

Jellinek accused Cannstatt (and, by implication, Maybach) of dangerous design, claiming that this was the prime cause of Bauer's accident, and demanded a new type of car, 'comparable with no other', of at least 35hp, built longer and lower than the Phonix and the result was the Mercedes which, in one brilliant whole, encapsulated all that Maybach had learned about motor-car design since 1885. Over the next three years, he was to polish and perfect the Mercedes, whose greatest triumph was, perhaps, the 1903 Gordon Bennett victory.

Joining Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Soon afterwards, though, Max Duttenhofer, the firm's chairman, died, and was succeeded by Lorenz, Maybach's old enemy. Although Maybach went on to develop the Mercedes 90 of 1903-1904 and the firm's first six-cylinder model, the 75 hp of 1906, he felt increasingly uneasy with his position. Duttenhofer had been his last link with the days of Gottlieb Daimler; now he was treated with indifference. So, on the 1st April 1907, he left the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft. After a year, Maybach joined his old friend Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose airship LZ-4 had just crashed at Echterdingen, near Stuttgart, as a result of engine trouble. Maybach offered his services as engine designer, and the Count accepted gratefully.

By 1912 a factory had been established at Friedrichshafen to produce Maybach Zeppelin engines. Wilhelm Maybach was assisted in this work by his son Karl, who had already held several jobs with Daimler in Germany and abroad, especially in France. Karl was put in charge of engine construction at Friedrichshafen, and Maybach gradually retired, although he continued, as he. had always done, to develop new inventions. In his old age, honours were piled upon him - he was awarded medals, titles and an honorary doctorate at the Stuttgart Institute of Technology, the Grashof Gold Medal, highest honour of the. Society of German Engineers - before he died in late 1929, from a two-day illness which developed into pneumonia.

Karl Maybach

Meanwhile, Karl Maybach had himself become an automobile designer of stature, although his initial progress in this field had been forced by the post-war ban on the German aviation industry. Maybach brought a completely fresh approach to the concept of a luxury car - the original Maybach W3 of 1921 had a chassis weight of 1½ tons - and he was convinced that the driver should never need to take his hands from the wheel. The pedal that operated the throttle also actuated the electric starter; to move away from a standstill, the driver just had to depress this pedal.

Gear-changing was equally easy, a pedal gave low 'mountain' drive when it was pushed down and 'normal' gearing (which was adequate for most conditions) when it was released. It was like a sophisticated, upmarket version of the Model T Ford, with another pedal giving reverse; and it was the first German production car to fit four-wheel brakes. Other refinements included a chassis boxed for strength, to resist the spring stresses, and an engine cooling fan which was automatically disconnected in cold weather. In all, it was a magnificent motor car, but hardly one suited to the Weimar Republican Germany, where the wheelbarrow had supplanted the wallet as a method of carrying banknotes, thanks to the runaway inflation in the economy.

Indeed, Karl Maybach did try to attract some foreign currency by selling his engines outside Germany, but the only taker was the Dutch Spyker company. However, the performance of the Maybach engine was amply demonstrated in 1922 when S. F. Edge beat his own 24-hour speed record at Brooklands driving one of these Spykers. Maybach cars acquired a new power unit in 1926, although the chassis remained unchanged. This new W5 model had overhead valves - it was still a six-cylinder-and a swept volume of 7 litres, which, enabled it to reach 75 mph, A variant-the W5 SG was available with Maybach's schnellgang, a two-speed overdrive which gave four forward ratios.

The Maybach Zeppelin

1929 saw the first manifestation of Maybach's most fabulous model - the V12. This had a 7-litre engine producing 150 bhp at 2800 rpm, and the schnellgang was vacuum controlled to give six forward speeds; the driver simply selected the gear he wanted, which was automatically engaged as soon as he lifted his throttle foot. There were also two reverse gears. Before long, this model had gained an arrogant second name - Zeppelin - and carried a tiny model Zeppelin on the badge bar to recall its designer's association with airships.

For 1932, there was a bigger version of the Maybach Zeppelin, this time with 8 litres and 200 bhp. It was said that these majestic cars, built on a 12 ft 3 in-wheelbase chassis, were so big that they transcended the normal driving licence regulations, so that the man who wanted to drive a Maybach Zeppelin needed to have a licence to drive motor buses! With a chassis weight of 2 tons, it was hardly surprising that the average DS8 Maybach Zeppelin scaled 3½ tons ready for the road. Designed to go from a standstill to 100 mph on top gear, the DS8 nevertheless had a five-speed transmission of some complexity, with vacuum selection from a steering-column lever.

After 1938, the gearbox had seven ratios. At least two of these 8-litre Maybach Zeppelins were made with aerodynamic Spohn coachwork, based on the Jaray patent 'teardrop' design which added 30 mph to the top speed. Spohn, based in Ravensburg, 12 miles from the Maybach works, were the most common coachbuilders on the Zeppelin chassis, manufacturing the nearest approach to standard bodywork for this luxury marque. In the mid 1930s Maybach introduced two smaller models, both straight-sixes - the DSH (1934-37) and the SW series, which ran from 1934 to 1939. The DSH had a similar chassis to the V12 Zeppelin, with a 12 ft 3 in wheelbase and the five-speed vacuum-controlled transmission. The 5.2-litre engine developed 130 bhp, sufficient for a top speed in the mid 80s.

If the DSH was relatively conventional, the SW showed Karl Maybach's love of experiment to the full. It had independent suspension all round by transverse leaf springs aided by coils acting on thrust rods, and the rear swing axle was in unit with the gearbox, which contained five speeds. The six-cylinder power unit had an overhead camshaft and valves closed by triangular leaf springs. The original SW 35 had a 3.5-litre engine, which was enlarged to 3.8 litres in the 1936 SW 38 and to 4.2 litres for the SW 42 in 1939. The chassis was made up from sheet-steel box girders with an X-shaped cross member.

Although Karl Maybach had attempted to emulate Rolls-Royce in the quality and design of his fabulous motor cars, they were always something of a sideline for the Friedrichshafen factory, and no more than 2000 had been built by the time production ceased in 1941 (two SW chassis were completed after the war as transport for the Maybach directors). The company thereafter concentrated on the design and manufacture of heavy diesel engines, forming an alliance with Mercedes-Benz for the production of such units in 1960.

Also see: Honour Roll - Founding Fathers Of The Automotive Industry