Past Exhibitions

Dangerous as Romance:
The Year of the Mercedes

June 1, 2007 - July 31, 2007

Gottlieb Daimler was the first man to harness, with any degree of success, a combustion engine into a road vehicle. Daimler's first four-wheeled motor driven carriage was built in 1866, and by 1890, demands for Daimler's engine made expansion necessary. Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, or Daimler Motor Company was formed.

Wealthy banker Emil Jellinek of Vienna was so impressed with the success of Daimler-built engines in the Paris-Rouen race (1894) that he purchased a controlling interest in Daimler. In 1900, Daimler created a 4-cylinder car named Mercedes, after the daughter of Emil Jellinek. For nearly five years, Jellinek held exclusive rights to the bulk of Mercedes production and carefully limited the sale of the cars to individuals of known influence. The combination of exclusivity and quality firmly established the reputation of the Mercedes automobile as synonymous with elegance and performance.

This 1911 Mercedes Model 50 Tourer has both style and substance. It boasts a 4-cylinder, 458 cubic inch, "T" head, 7.5 liter engine as well as water cooled brakes and engine driven lubrication of steering and universal-joints. The 50-horsepower engine is matched in quality by the custom, bespoke coachwork by the English firm of Maythorne & Sons.

This was the first year that Mercedes used shaft-driven power instead of chain-driven power. Both a driveshaft and a chain drive are methods of transferring torque from the engine to the wheels. Although, at optimum upkeep, the chain drive delivers more efficiency, the driveshaft in enclosed in a tube and therefore requires less maintenance.