This article will discuss the oldest and most famous automobile company of our time. On September 26, 1902, the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft company registered the Mercedes name as a trademark. And this is where her story begins.
The first model of the founder of the brand, Karl Benz, was presented for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in 1887. At first, people were skeptical about a very unusual invention, and were even afraid, although at that time restrictions were imposed on cars, including high-speed ones. In the city, the speed should not exceed 6 km / h, and outside the city no more than 12 km / h.
It is known that Karl was even sued for the fact that his drivers drove very fast, overtaking the police. But Karl found a way out of this situation – he simply invited ministry employees for car rides. As a result, he was allowed to drive faster than horse-drawn carriages.
But a turning point has come and people’s skepticism has noticeably faded. It happened in 1888, when the wife of the founding father, Karla Benz, went to visit her parents in the city of Pforzheim. The distance, a little bit long, at 106 km the car overcame with ease and without problems. It was then that all of Germany learned about this car as the most convenient means of transportation.
This manufacturer has a colorful history of not only the creation of the car, but also the logo. The Mercedes Benz logo has gone through many changes over the course of more than a century. The last few can still be found on the roads
One of the most interesting facts concerns the brand logo. Initially, the company worked not only for the motor transport industry, but the sea and air ones were also involved. Aircraft and marine engines were produced. Since the work in the three industries was successful, it was decided to perpetuate this in their logo. The three-pointed star symbolizes success and prosperity on land, in the air and at sea. But there is also another version about the appearance of the logo. It says that Mercedes cars are made for the convenience of the passenger, driver and mechanic.
It is a well-known fact that the name Mercedes comes from a female name. As a matter of fact, it was not very easy to decide on the name. One day, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador Emil Jellinek decided to invest in the Daimler enterprise, as he was counting on the company’s success. But after the merger of Benz with Daimler, the following situation arose. Since Daimler was already a registered trademark, the decision was made to name it Mercedes-Benz. In honor of the daughter of the Austro-Hungarian ambassador. Actually, the girl’s name was Adriana Manuela Ramona Jellinek, but in the family everyone called her Mercedes, which is translated from Spanish as “mercy.”
An equally funny fact concerns the world-famous founder of Apple, Steve Jobs. He entered into an agreement with a car dealership, according to which every six months the company provided him with a new Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG, while taking the old one back. Steve’s car has always been driven without license plates, because California law gives six months to install license plates. The benefit of the salon was that the cars driven by Jobs for a certain period of time grew in price and sold out very quickly.
Another very interesting fact is that the founders of the company, Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and company sponsor Emil Jellinek, were fans of racing races. That is why in 1939, in a single copy, the first racing car was created – the Mercedes-Benz T80. The engine for the car was from the Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft – at that time it was the most powerful unit. This model was supposed to make a splash in the automotive industry of the time, but this did not happen. The fact is that the work on assembling the car went so long and scrupulously that the creators simply did not have time to test it – the Second World War began. And later they simply forgot about the car and put it in the museum.
One of the models, namely the Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen 300 GD, became famous for the fact that an ordinary German Gunter Holtorf traveled almost the whole world in his car. But this is not at all striking, but the fact that at the moment his journey continues and has been going on for 23 years now! Impressive, isn’t it? But you still don’t know that the car has traveled more than 800 thousand km with virtually no problems. The German spent all his way behind the wheel of a car, which he calls Otto and considers his friend. The traveler visited 200 countries of the world and today visits some next corner of our huge planet.