A Car for Daughter

To German Autobuilder Karl Benz's tiny plant one day in 1902 came Austria-Hungary's wealthy Consul General Emile Jellinek. He promised to order 30 of Benz's famous racers to enter in the Nice road race "if you'll name them for my daughter Mercedes." Consul Jellinek got his cars (they won the first 30 places in the race) and his daughter Mercedes' name became a world-famous symbol of automotive quality and speed.

The Mercedes, with its familiar emblem, a trylon star, was all but eclipsed during World War II, when the makers, Daimler-Benz A.G., having turned to producing engines for Hitler's Messerschmitt-109 and Tiger Tank, had their main Stuttgart plant almost destroyed by allied bombs. But since last year, when Mercedes' powerful new 300 SL (for Super Light) grabbed off top honors at one road race after another, the star has been shining brighter than ever. It is being polished by other stars such as Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper and Errol Flynn, who have been trooping to Germany to plunk down $8,215 apiece and drive off with the 300 S, stock-car model of the racer. In the wealthy hot-rod set, Mercedes is giving a fast race to Britain's Jaguar. Last week Mercedes stepped on the gas. Daimler-Benz announced that it is building a faster, more powerful racing car for 1954, is now testing its engine. To concentrate on the new car, the company plans to stay out of road racing for the rest of this year.

A Royal Tradition. Daimler-Benz's highly skilled workers take it for granted that the new car will be a winner, for their company has a pace-setting tradition. Old Karl Benz invented one of the first gasoline engines, built racers which set such speed marks as Barney Oldfield's 131-m.p.h. pace on Daytona Beach's measured mile in 1910. Gottlieb Daimler, whose company merged with Benz's in 1926, built the first practical gasoline-driven car, and turned out luxurious limousines for royalty (e.g., England's Queen Alexandra and Germany's own Kaiser Wilhelm). After the merger, Daimler-Benz (with France's Bugatti and Italy's Alfa Romeo) dominated European road racing until World War II.

Daimler-Benz's postwar comeback was slow. For months, the surviving work force of 13,000 did little but rebuild U.S. staff cars to get money to reconstruct the smashed plant. Under Fritz Koenecke, 54, a wartime synthetic-rubber expert, Daimler-Benz production has risen to almost 25% more than its 1938 peacetime peak; its work force is now 35,000. In 1951, Daimler-Benz led all West German auto makers in value of production (800 million Deutsche mark, or $190 million), this year expects to produce 1 billion ($238 million) worth of autos and trucks. Already better than one-fourth of its production is in exports, and recently the company started shipping to the U.S.

Fine Tolerances. As soon as Daimler-Benz was making money again, it went out to recapture its old racing honors. In 1952, it sent the powerful, speedy 300 SL to Brescia for Italy's famed Mille Miglia (1,000-mile race). Along went a famed prewar Mercedes figure, vat-sized Alfred Neubauer, 62, pit boss in the 1930s. Neubauer, who wears two stop watches about his neck and likes to keep a cooling case of Munich beer close by, had lost none of his cunning. Under his split-second training, crews changed tires and refueled the Mercedes in 22 seconds. After placing second in the Mille Miglia, the Daimler-Benz champions grabbed top honors at Bern's Grand Prix, at France's Le Mans, the most grueling (24-hour) road race of all, and at Mexico's Pan American. At each, they arrived weeks in advance, inspected every mile of road, noted curves and other obstacles, planned their race as carefully as a Prussian general his campaign.

At Daimler-Benz, the craftsmen take just as great pains with the cars. One out of every 15 production workers is a tester, who makes sure each car meets exacting requirements. Engine parts are machined to fine tolerances, each engine is tested on a block for from four to twelve hours. Daimler-Benz makes eight models of Mercedes, including two diesel-powered ones, which range from the relatively inexpensive four-cylinder 170 V ($1,890 and about 60 h.p.) to the six-cylinder 300 S (about 190 h.p.). With their old-fashioned bodies, they resemble 1936, and older, U.S. cars. Their high-geared steering, a feature of road racers, is as hard as a truck's but very responsive, and they are famed for the way they hold the road. Each model has such features as self-lubrication (at the press of a foot pedal), independent suspension of all four wheels, handwork on such parts as polished wood dashboards and door frames. Daimler-Benz sticks stubbornly to heavy, solid steel, though many other makers have switched to lighter frames. Says Chief Designer Fritz Nallinger: "Mercedes is built to last."

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