1903 Mercedes-Simplex breaks pre-1930-car auction record

oldbrownhat · #1 03-10-2024, 11:11 PM

This is a good antidote to all the squabbling about EVs

Article here

The 60-hp car, under the same family's ownership from new, went for US$12 million—that's a lot of brass for brass-era motoring

"...This 1903 Mercedes-Simplex is one of the first cars to be actually called a “Mercedes.” The name was first applied to a vehicle as a nickname for a German-made Daimler 12-hp car marketed by a successful Austro-Hungarian businessman called Emil Jellinek: it was the first name of his daughter..."

...It was ordered new by Alfred Harmsworth, co-founder of the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper, and incredibly had remained in the same family ownership for 121 years..."

lihpster · #2 03-10-2024, 11:32 PM

People drove that type of car across continents. On wagon tracks. Before Texaco stations. People nowadays complain about shifting a manual.

oldbrownhat · #3 03-10-2024, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lihpster

People drove that type of car across continents. On wagon tracks. Before Texaco stations. People nowadays complain about shifting a manual.

We're just a buncha wimps! There's no adventure in motoring any more

It's all "maps, apps and self-driving naps." Pfft!

pawngal · #4 03-11-2024, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lihpster

People drove that type of car across continents. On wagon tracks. Before Texaco stations. People nowadays complain about shifting a manual.

A few years later and nothing as fancy, when he was still single my Dad drove from Iowa to San Diego twice in the mid 1920's.
Wish I had talked more with him about the trips.

DWalt · #5 03-11-2024, 10:11 AM

I remember reading that in the early days of motoring, drug stores sold gasoline in cans.

Kinman · #6 03-11-2024, 06:45 PM

I've been toying with the idea of selling my '29 Model A, but every time I get serious I think about how easy it is to maintain and repair if something goes wrong which with everything gone through is highly unlikely. My wife asked me what I'd fool around with next and I told her I might just be done with messing around with cars. The beauty of these old cars is everything can be repaired or adjusted, everything is mechanical, the only wires are hot, the body is the ground. You do need to have a mechanical aptitude or know someone that is inclined.

delcrossv · #7 03-12-2024, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kinman

I've been toying with the idea of selling my '29 Model A, but every time I get serious I think about how easy it is to maintain and repair if something goes wrong which with everything gone through is highly unlikely. My wife asked me what I'd fool around with next and I told her I might just be done with messing around with cars. The beauty of these old cars is everything can be repaired or adjusted, everything is mechanical, the only wires are hot, the body is the ground. You do need to have a mechanical aptitude or know someone that is inclined.

Yep. No kill switch for the Feds to turn off, and no computer to fry during an EMP event.

oldbrownhat · #8 03-12-2024, 04:31 PM

Interesting article on designer Emil Jelinek (known after 1903 as Emil Jellinek-Mercedes) and the history behind the Mercedes name. Began career as a diplomat, then insurance but became fascinated by cars and racing.

...the name Mercédès means "favor", "kindness", "mercy", or "pardon" in Spanish. [His wife]Rachel died four years later, and was buried in Nice. Even so, Jellinek came to believe the name Mercedes brought good fortune and called all his properties after it. One of his sons wrote: He was as superstitious as the ancient Romans...

Jellinek acquired a large mansion which he named Villa Mercedes to run the business from and by 1897 he was selling about 140 cars a year and started calling them "Mercedes". The car business was by now more profitable than his insurance work...

...In 1899. Jellinek entered his cars in all [the French Riviera races.] As the usage of pseudonyms was common, he called his race-team Mercedes and this was visibly written on the cars' chassis. Monsieur Mercedes became his personal alias and he became well known by it in the region.

Using the DMG-Phoenix, Jellinek easily won all the races, reaching 35 km/h (22 mph), but he was still not satisfied with the car...

Beemerguy53 · #9 03-12-2024, 04:42 PM

I've been able to visit the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, on two occasions. It's truly an amazing place...

You start your tour in the lobby of the building, and take the elevator to the top level. As you near the end of the ascent, you hear a horse neighing, increasing in volume, until the elevator door opens and you see a horse standing in front of you, with the Kaiser's opinion on the automobile inscribed on its mount...

Beemerguy53 · #10 03-12-2024, 04:46 PM

From the opening gallery, you wind your way down through the levels of the museum, with all the various creations of Mercedes-Benz, from tractors to racing cars, well-represented...

Beemerguy53 · #11 03-12-2024, 04:50 PM

There isn't anything M-B hasn't built at one time or another...

Beemerguy53 · #12 03-12-2024, 04:56 PM

More vehicles from the Mercedes-Benz Museum...including the Pope-mobile, Emperor Hirohito's limousine, the C-111 Wankel-powered car, and a number of classic racing cars...

DWalt · #13 03-12-2024, 05:43 PM

The nice thing about earlier cars, even into the 1970s, was that most of them had engines that were not shoehorned into the engine compartment and most every component was easily accessible. My very first car was a 1952 Studebaker, and at one time or another I repaired or replaced about everything in its engine and transmission. I learned a great deal about what makes cars run and how to keep them running in the process. That can't be done on today's cars.

I remember reading that the moneyed and aristocratic Britons who owned Rolls-Royce cars back in the Golden Age always had Chauffeurs. Their job went well beyond just driving the Master's Rolls. They also had to be competent mechanics to keep it immaculately clean, maintained, and running. That was probably a full time job back then. I suppose the same was true for wealthy German Mercedes owners.

oldbrownhat · #14 03-12-2024, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWalt

The nice thing about earlier cars, even into the 1970s, was that most of them had engines that were not shoehorned into the engine compartment and most every component was easily accessible....

"Space - the Final Frontier"

I have a compact Takeuchi excavator and you have to be half the size of an emaciated garden gnome to get into the innards.

Kinman · #15 03-12-2024, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beemerguy53

More vehicles from the Mercedes-Benz Museum...including the Pope-mobile, Emperor Hirohito's limousine, the C-111 Wankel-powered car, and a number of classic racing cars...

Back in the 80's and 90's when my wife was driving 190E models I would take it in for required service and knew the service manager. I asked him once why Mercedes never put out a front wheel drive car. His answer was classic "We learned from racing Auto Union in the 30's that front drive was not safe and our cars usually won."

Kinman · #16 03-12-2024, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWalt

The nice thing about earlier cars, even into the 1970s, was that most of them had engines that were not shoehorned into the engine compartment and most every component was easily accessible. My very first car was a 1952 Studebaker, and at one time or another I repaired or replaced about everything in its engine and transmission. I learned a great deal about what makes cars run and how to keep them running in the process. That can't be done on today's cars.

I remember reading that the moneyed and aristocratic Britons who owned Rolls-Royce cars back in the Golden Age always had Chauffeurs. Their job went well beyond just driving the Master's Rolls. They also had to be competent mechanics to keep it immaculately clean, maintained, and running. That was probably a full time job back then. I suppose the same was true for wealthy German Mercedes owners.

It was also a requirement for chauffeurs in this country as well. I lived in a chauffeur's apartment built over the garage behind a former mansion, converted to apartments. It had a service pit built into the floor which gave you just enough room on a creeper to get under a car and service the undercarriage. It was a very nice set-up and for a certain period in my life was all I would ever need. The owner kept his car in the garage but allowed me use of it while changing out a busted front axle U-bolt on my '47 Willys Jeepster. That apartment had forced air gas heat, and all the comforts of home, large as a full sized garage...$50 a month. I was bragging to my dad about my cheap rent and he said "In a year that is $600 you have nothing to show for, except receipts...buy a house." I did shortly afterward, but I did have to think about it.

Rustyt1953 · #17 03-12-2024, 08:19 PM

I was compelled.

Alk8944 · #18 03-14-2024, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWalt

The nice thing about earlier cars, even into the 1970s, was that most of them had engines that were not shoehorned into the engine compartment and most every component was easily accessible.

The first several cars/trucks I worked on and/or drove had engine compartments large enough that when you needed to work on them you climbed into the engine compartment and sat on the fender well! Damn, those were the days!

delcrossv · #19 03-14-2024, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldbrownhat

This is a good antidote to all the squabbling about EVs

Article here

The 60-hp car, under the same family's ownership from new, went for US$12 million—that's a lot of brass for brass-era motoring

"...This 1903 Mercedes-Simplex is one of the first cars to be actually called a “Mercedes.” The name was first applied to a vehicle as a nickname for a German-made Daimler 12-hp car marketed by a successful Austro-Hungarian businessman called Emil Jellinek: it was the first name of his daughter..."

...It was ordered new by Alfred Harmsworth, co-founder of the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper, and incredibly had remained in the same family ownership for 121 years..."

I'd drive that.

venomballistics · #20 03-14-2024, 06:45 PM

Will This Ford Model A RUN AND DRIVE 700+ Miles Home? - YouTube

The topic made me think of this video.
Enjoy