175th Anniversary Of Wilhelm Maybach

Today marks the 175th anniversary for the man who is known as the “King of Designers”. 

Born in Heilbronn, Germany on February 9, 1846. Augustus Wilhelm Maybach was the name given, made his legacy by becoming a revolutionary designer and was credited as the designer of the first modern car. 

The renowned named Maybach, still lives on with Mercedes-Benz as Mercedes’ luxury brand of Daimler Chrysler AG. Along with the new Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, W222 that premiered in 2014, the Maybach name has been known to be the most luxurious and cutting edge technology in the automotive industry.

Wilhelm Maybach is the man behind many of Gottlieb Daimler’s genius creations. His inventions helped Daimler achieve his dream of motorized mobility with different modes of transport into a reality. Reutlingen, 1863 is when Maybach and Daimler first met. This is when Maybach’s skills were acknowledged by Daimler and thus an ingenious partnership was created.

Later in 1872, both men relocated as Daimler was appointed as the management board of Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz AG and in 1873, Maybach became head of the Deutz Design department. He worked on the production of Otto’s four-stroke engine and in 1875 he ran trials with liquid fuels and a converted gas engine.

Maybach signed a contract with Daimler in 1882 and that’s when the pioneer’s dream of motorized mobility on water, land and air became real. Their other achievements were the first fast running petrol engine in 1882, world’s first motorcycle called the Reitwagen in 1885, the motorboat in 1886, the first four wheeled car called the Daimler’s Motorkutsche in 1886, Daimler motorized Waggonet in 1887 and wolfert’s motorized airship in 1888. 

Maybach further innovated an advanced gearbox design by producing the four-speed gear only transmission with movable gears. In 1890, he spent most of his time developing the two cylinder engine built under license from Peugeot. 

Later on, he innovated the Pheonix in-line two cylinder engine and the spray nozzle carburettor. With much success and with international licensees he later reinstated Daimler and himself at Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in 1895. 

Being the technical director at DMG, he created the tubed based radiator in 1897 and in 1899 he developed a four stroke engine for Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s airship. In 1900, the first Mercedes 35 hp was finished in Cansatt making a historic moment as it was the first modern car at that point. It was this brilliant success that earned Maybach the nickname “King of Designers”. 

The concept of Mercedes Simplex 40 hp to 60 hp and the Simplex 90 hp was also developed by Maybach in 1904 and going into 1906 he diverged and became a fan of motorsport. The desire he had to go into racing encouraged him to develop a 6 cylinder engine with a shaft driven overhead camshaft. Furthermore he designed the twin spark plug, high voltage, solenoid ignition too.

Maybach established the Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH in Bissingen, Germany, in 1909. The 22/70 hp (W 3) was presented in 1921 being the first series production of the Maybach car. Maybach garnered many milestones over his lifetime such as being appointed as the Royal Building Inspector by the Kingdom of Wurttemberg, an honorary doctorate by Stuttgart Institute of Technology and the Association of German Engineers (VDI) awarded him the Golden Grashof medal. 

Wilhelm Maybach left the world with his heritage on December 29, 1929. Buried in the same place with his friend Gottlieb Daimler in the Cannstatt’s Uff cemetery. After his death, in 1996 the Automotive Hall of Fame inducted him in and also the European Automotive Hall of Fame in 2004.