Author: Fabian Henningsen

The six- and twelve-cylinder automotive engines developed by Maybach Motorenbau from 1922 onwards were ideally suited for installation in commercial vehicles due to their highly efficient, reliable and low-vibration running performance. Equipped with Maybach transmissions, the Maybach type “W 5” engine, for example, was widely used as a revised type “OS 5”, “OS 6” and “OS 7” engine with reduced engine speed in buses and trucks of the Magirus, Horch, Faun or Rumpler vehicle brands. At that time, numerous transport companies modernized their underpowered bus fleets with the significantly more powerful Maybach engines. In the 1930s, the twelve-cylinder Maybach type “DSO 8” engine was installed in large numbers in many fire engines as well as other special vehicles and semi-tractor-trailers. With the availability of powerful Maybach engines, new types of commercial vehicles were developed and built from then on.

Maybach engines for commercial vehicles were especially installed in vehicles that needed to have long mileage capacity and high reliablability (no engine defects). During this period, for example, the famous Maybach type “OS 5” engine with six cylinders and 100 hp output was designed by Karl Maybach for high-performance vehicles such as long-distance buses and trucks. The construction of trucks was a particularly strong trend among vehicle developers in the 1920s. This development contributed to the emergence of the modern logistics industry. One of the first automobile manufacturers that also produce trucks was the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in Canstatt, Germany. In 1896, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach began developing a truck with a two-cylinder engine built into the rear, which developed 4 hp.

On October 1896,  Daimler  sold the first truck to the British Motor Syndicate in London. In this model, the motor had been enlarged to 1.53 liters with 6 HP, and was installed under the driver’s seat. In the same year, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was the first vehicle manufacturer in the world to launch a model range of various trucks that were available in payloads ranging from 1.2 tons to 5 tons.

Other companies followed this example in the coming years. In Germany, these were manufacturers such as the companies Faun in Nurnberg, Germany or Rumpler in Austria. They began to produce larger trucks, some with trailers, to meet the increasing demands of transportation. What all these producers needed were powerful and durable engines, which they bought from Maybach Motorenbau in Friedrichshafen, constructed by Karl Maybach. The Maybach engines impressed with impressive performance data and could effortlessly accelerate heavy trucks. The increasing demand for transport services led to the establishment of numerous forwarding and freight companies. The market for trucks was booming. Maybach Motorenbau in Friedrichshafen was an economic beneficiary of this development. The emergence of road networks and the improvement of roads also enabled trucks to cover long distances and expand their transport capacity even further.

In addition, there was great demand from public transport companies because their buses were all equipped with engines that were far too weak for passenger transport. Especially when the destinations were in the mountains, there were no alternatives to the powerful Maybach engines. In combination with a 4-speed transmission from the ZF Friedrichshafen (Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen AG) company and a high-speed transmission from Maybach Motorenbau, the buses were able to overcome any mountain climb.

In the 1930s, Karl Maybach maintained very good contact with Professor Heinrich Buschmann, who played a major role in the success of the Magirus brand. Magirus excursion buses were particularly popular in the 1930s. Magirus was a German manufacturer of commercial vehicles, especially trucks and buses, which existed from 1864 to 2007. The history of Magirus began in 1864, when the entrepreneur Conrad Dietrich Magirus founded a workshop for firefighting equipment in Ulm. Over the years, he expanded his range and began producing trucks and buses. In the 1920s, Magirus fielded the first bus in Germany that was built on truck chassis. These buses were very successful and helped to make the company one of the leading manufacturers of commercial vehicles in Germany.

From Maybach Motorenbau, Magirus purchased type “OS 5”, “OS 6” and “OS 7” engines for buses, trucks, and also fire engines. A Magirus fire truck with a Maybach engine of type “OS 5” is still preserved today. The vehicle, built in 1929, was used by the Kornwestheim Fire Department (Stuttgart, Germany) until 1961. The fire truck was exhibited in a museum for many years, but today it is back on the streets of Kornwestheim as a show vehicle.

The German Reichpost as well as many transport companies also equipped their buses for touring with reliable Maybach engines. The Maybach OS engine program had the advantage of being able to reach very high speeds even in direct gear, while fuel consumption was considerably lower than when using transmissions from other manufacturers. In order to accelerate heavy vehicles as quickly as possible in constant stop-and-go traffic with low fuel consumption, it was necessary to perfectly match the engine, transmission, and axles.

A very well preserved bus with Maybach engine type “OS 5” can be admired in the Museum of Transport and Technology in Berlin. The double-decker bus was purchased in 1927 by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe and was in permanent service until 1954. The chassis was built by the vehicle manufacturer NAG (Nationale Automobil Gesellschaft, from 1930 Büssing AG). The original NAG engine with only 4 cylinders and 45 hp was replaced in 1933 by the much more powerful Maybach engine. It was not only the transport companies that saved a lot of fuel and thus money by using Maybach engines. For the drivers of the vehicles, this had immense advantages in urban traffic, as driving comfort and thus road safety was significantly improved.

After the end of the Second World War, Karl Maybach found that the exclusive automobile engines and chassis of the Maybach brand were no longer selling on the automobile market. The people of Europe were experiencing financial hardship as a result of the war damage. Investments were first made in rebuilding the economy and real estate before more exclusive consumer goods were bought again in the mid-1950s. It was, therefore, necessary to consider revising the excellent Maybach engine program for automobiles in order to be able to sell them as built-in engines to the commercial vehicle industry. The first truck to be built after the Second World War was the Horch type “H3” with a Maybach engine in 1946. The Maybach type “HL 42 TKRM” engines with a displacement of 4.2 liters and 100 hp, which were originally used in military half-track vehicles, were installed. By 1949, over 850 type “H3” trucks had been fitted with Maybach engines. Dr H3 with a payload of 3 tons and a total permissible load of 6.9 tons was very often used as a delivery vehicle for construction materials during the reconstruction period in Germany. In the early years, Horch still produced mainly trucks for use in agriculture and mining. These trucks were robust and reliable and enjoyed great popularity. In the 1910s, Horch also began producing trucks for road transport. These trucks were equipped with modern engines and allowed for faster and more efficient transportation. Horch trucks were in high demand throughout Europe and even overseas. Unfortunately, Horch had problems with the economic crisis and increasing competition in the 1930s. The company had to file for bankruptcy in 1932 and was taken over by Auto Union, a merger of four automobile manufacturers. The Horch brand was continued by Auto Union, After the end of the war in 1945, Zwickau belonged to the Soviet occupation zone. Following the removal of machinery as part of reparations, the Auto Union plants located there were nationalized in 1946 as a result of the referendum in Saxony. After the Maybach engines held in stock had been installed, Maybach Motorenbau no longer supplied engines for commercial vehicles to the Soviet occupation zone.

Working as Gottlieb Daimler’s chief constructor at the Deutz gas engine factory in Cologne, Wilhelm Maybach contributed to the international success of the so-called Otto-Engine by redesigning it in 1873. The congenial Daimler-Maybach duo became independent in Cannstatt in 1882. In a greenhouse building, Maybach constructed the first high-speed single-cylinder four-stroke engine, the so-called “Standuhr” (Grandfather Clock). Maybach first built this engine into the “Reitwagen” (Riding Carriage) and then into the “Daimler Motorenkutsche” (Daimler Motor-Carriage) in 1886 – the automobile was invented. At the same time, Wilhelm Maybach pursued the goal of incorporating the “Grandfather Clock” into all vehicles by land, by air, and by sea: automobiles, rail vehicles, airships, and also boats.

In August 1886, Daimler and Maybach organized the first test run with a seven-meter-long wooden boat, powered by the “Grandfather Clock” – the first motorboat was invented. The boat was given the name Neckar. People in the 1880s distrusted the internal combustion engine -the new technology-and initially rejected the invention. For this reason, Gottlieb Daimler camouflaged the boat with electrical insulators and wires to simulate an electric drive. The engine was also dismantled after each trip and returned to the workshop. A small shipyard on the Neckar River served as a test workshop for Daimler’s boat projects. From the beginning, Maybach and Daimler received support from Friedrich Lürssen from the town of Aumund near Bremen (Germany), who later built the Maybach boat icons.

During another ride at a rowing regatta in Frankfurt am Main, Wilhelm Maybach played a trick on the police. The policemen approached Maybach’s motorboat in a normal rowboat to control him, which did not succeed: To the amusement of the audience, Maybach let the police boat approach him several times, starting the engine just before making contact and quickly driving away again and again. In this sense, it was Wilhelm Maybach who drove the first race with a motorboat at the end of the 1880s.

However, 1894 is actually considered the year in which a race with motorboats was held for the first time. The venue of the race was Nice, France. It was a Daimler boat, with an engine designed by Wilhelm Maybach, which won the race with significantly less horsepower than the other participants. The secret lay in the aerodynamic glide of the hull. Especially the racing boats named Mercedes I and Mercedes II dominated the young racing boat scene in the first years. None other than racing legend, Emil Jellinek, (see our block article: https://maybach.org/wilhelm-maybach-shaping-the-modern-automobile/) steered the boats. The boats were equipped with the 40 hp Maybach four-cylinder engine from the world-famous Daimler car “Mercedes-Simplex”. The example shows that at that time the development of motorized land and water vehicles happened hand in hand. And it was the pioneers of automotive engineering, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, who laid the groundwork.

The era of autoboats – boat building and automotive engineering cross-fertilize each other

At the beginning of the 20th century, the still young automotive industry also conquered the market for motorized watercraft: Autoboats were the names of the front-engined watercraft that quickly became popular from 1900 onwards thanks to spectacular races in Germany, France, the USA, and Monaco. However, the First World War not only prevented sporting events throughout Europe but also largely interrupted technical innovation in sport boat engine construction. Boat owners were called upon to turn over engines, parts, and even entire boats to the military. After World War I, the provisions of the Versailles Peace Treaty prohibited the navigation of rivers and lakes by German boats of any kind until 1920. All in all, the war meant that the leading innovation in the production of motorboats did not take place in Europe for a long time, and certainly not in Germany.

In the United States of America, on the other hand, the market for vehicles of all kinds was booming. The possibilities of the new mobility in the golden 1920s seemed limitless. In particular, touring and sport boats were extremely popular and sold in very large numbers. In Northern Europe and Germany, the enthusiasm for motorized vehicles arrived years later. Nevertheless, by 1929 thousands of sport and leisure motorboats had been launched for the German market.

In Germany, such famous car manufacturers as BMW, Daimler, and Maybach were mainly involved in the motorboat-boom. But also engines from Alfa Romeo, Austin, Bugatti, Duesenberg, Fiat, Hispano-Suiza, Isotta-Fraschini, Maserati, Peugeot, Renault, and many other manufacturers can also be found in autoboats. Autoboats, recognizable by their long foredeck and V-shaped water deflectors, central steering column and windshield, appeared around 1905 on the Great Lakes of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and North America. While at the beginning of the 1920s the transfer of car bodies from the automobile industry to motorboats was still considered impractical, by 1925 people were already convinced that sedan trends from the automobile industry could also be transferred to motorboats. The first step was for the boat buyers to select a hull and then go to an engine builder of their choice to find the right drive system. The Lürssen shipping company in Vegesack near Bremen,Germany, worked almost exclusively with the engine builders Daimler and Maybach. The most elegant and high-performance boats were equipped with Maybach engines. Those who could afford it went for the top German engine of the time: either the Maybach engine type “S 5” by Karl Maybach or the Mercedes engine type “BM 9456”. Leisure captains ordered a sports sedan, a noble yacht convertible with a lined soft top with a retractable frame, and crank windows, or straight away a sports sedan with an elegant saloon body. A particularly fine example is the sports sedan named Käthi designed by Bruno Engelbrecht in 1927. Its special feature was a tunnel rear end that ensured a shallow draft. The hull was made of galvanized steel, and the superstructure of mahogany. The interior of the salon was very extensive with two sofa beds, wardrobes, cooking area and wash basin. The engine was Karl Maybach Type “S 2”, Germany’s first high-speed boat engine.

After the First World War, numerous British and German aircraft engines were available on the commercial market. Since there was no military need, the engines were sold and were installed in racing vehicles for the road and sea. This explains why numerous of V 12 Maybach high-altitude engines with several hundred horsepower were installed in racing boats. Among these Maybach racing machines was also a European champion. In 1926, the boat of racing pilot Jupp Rüddel was considered the fastest motorboat in Europe and the second fastest in the world, with a measured top speed of 66 mph km/h as well as an average speed of 63 mph. Two of the legendary Maybach high-altitude engines of the type “Mb 4a” with a total of 520 hp were installed.

The fastest boat during this period was US entrepreneur Garfield Wood’s Miss America II; she reached an incredible 80 mph. In order to reach speeds of over 60 mph, it required not only engines with well over 1,000 hp, but also nerves of steel. Jupp Rüddel’s record-breaking boat was bought in the second half of the 1920s by Fritz von Opel (grandson of car pioneer Adam Opel) and won several international motorboat races. Despite her name Opel II, the boat had nothing to do with the Opel car company. After the acquisition, Fritz von Opel christened the then- nameless boat Opel II. The Opel II made its first appearance in a motorboat race in the summer of 1927 at the third International Motorboat Meeting on the Seine. At the “Coupe de France” on July 12, 1927, Fritz von Opel won clearly ahead of the international competition. Only two days later, he won the “Prize of the French Minister of the Navy” with the Opel II. On October 2, 1928, he became the German champion at the ADAC Motorboat Championship on Lake Templin near Potsdam (Germany).

The boat icons Maybach Donnerwetter and Seewal

The two Maybach boats with the names Donnerwetter and Seewal went down in history as the fastest double-plicht boats (boat with two staging areas) in Germany. Unfortunately, none of the boats with the conspicuously large inscriptions exists anymore. Maybach engines of the type “SDS 8” were installed; in the racing boat Donnerwetter even in the performance-enhanced version with 300 hp. Both boats were operated by the company itself, Maybach -Motorenbau GmbH in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. The advertising photo on Lake Constance from 1931 is one of the extremely rare photographs of the two boats.

In 1909, Wilhelm Maybach and Graf von Zeppelin founded the Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH in Bissingen. His son, Karl Maybach took over the management and technical management of the young company, which moved to Friedrichshafen in 1912. In the years that followed, a world-class company was created thanks to Karl Maybach’s designs: Maybach-Motorenbau.

At the time, steam locomotives dominated railway traffic. With the development of the first high-speed, high-performance diesel engine, Karl Maybach paved the way for modern diesel train promotion. The evolution began in 1924,  with the 6-cylinder (EVA) in-line engine with 150 hp, advancing through the “GO V” engine with 400 hp in the 1930s, to the post-war MD series engines with over 2,000 hp. The transformation occurred n Italy, England, Yugoslavia,  Scandinavia, South Africa and  the Orient.  It also spread to  the USA and  Australia, Maybach engines from Friedrichshafen set the standards in rail transport!

In 1924, at the International Railway Exhibition in Berlin-Sedding, Maybach Motorenbau GmbH presented its first motorized railcar together with Eisenbahn Verkehrs AG Wismar (EVA). It was the “G4a” 6-cylinder Maybach compressor engine with 150 hp at 1,300 rpm. The “G4a” was the world’s first high-speed diesel engine with such a high output. The special audience was amazed, and the Deutsche Reichsbahn immediately ordered several of the innovative Maybach EVA trains. In the 1920s, the first generation of Maybach train drives, with up 225 hp, also found international buyers for the built-in engines. The Deutsche Reichsbahn was extremely satisfied with the endurance of the Maybach drive train and strongly signaled their interest in other Maybach engines.

In 1932, Karl Maybach designed a railcar drive with the 400 hp 12-cylinder “GO” engine in V-shape that put the competition on the rails of Europe in the rear view mirror. Installed in the SVT as the world’s first streamlined diesel train, the Maybach engine accelerated the flying trains to speeds of up to 160 km. The Flying Hamburger went into service on December 19, 1932 at the Lehrter station in Berlin and covered the distance to Hamburg in 2 1/2 hours – a media sensation! After a few years, the flying trains were serving the routes between the big cities and defying modern aircraft. Before the Second World War paralyzed the German economy, Karl Maybach modified the “GO” engine by adding an exhaust gas turbocharger, which resulted in an output of 600 hp. It was these engines that were in operation in post-war Germany for the succeeding decades due to their extremely long service life.

Due to the reliability of the engines from Friedrichshafen, the Deutsche Bundesbahn equips its most important centerpiece of equipment, the “V 60” shunting locomotive, with Maybach “GTO” engines as the new standard. Starting in 1954, the “V 60″locomotive was produced in very large numbers by all German locomotive manufacturers. The International Union of Railways named the “V 60” locomotive the European standard shunting locomotive. In the following years, engine development for rail vehicles became a very great commercial success for Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH in Friedrichshafen. Also, for the workforce in Friedrichshafen, the company’s economic success meant securing their jobs for their families. In the post-war period of the Federal Republic of Germany, the locomotive became a symbol of an economic miracle. No matter which station in Europe, the “V 60” locomotive entered, it brought goods and prosperity to the people.

In Friedrichshafen, which was still devastated by the war, Karl Maybach also developed the Maybach “MD” (Maybach Diesel) locomotive engine range. The 12 cylinder engine with a disk crankshaft in tunnel design was a type of modular engine with a performance range from 400 to 2,000 hp. All engine variants had the same bore (185mm) and identical stroke (200mm), so that the actual wearing parts, such as the cylinder liners, pistons and connecting rods were basically the same. The Deutsche Bundesbahn and other international railway companies were thus able to equip their entire fleet of mainline locomotives with uniform drive systems. The VT 08 express railcar with a 1,000 hp Maybach MD engine marked the beginning of a long series of economically highly successful rail vehicles from post-war Germany. The modification of railcars, mainline locomotives and shunting locomotives followed: Deutsche Bundesbahn decided to consistently equip its entire fleet with Maybach “MD” engines. This approach ensured that the Deutsche Bundesbahn had a very large technical lead in the 1950s by international standards and thus a role model function.

The experience gained with the Maybach MD engines in the type “V 80” locomotive formed the starting point for a worldwide triumphal march of powerful diesel-hydraulic mainline locomotives. As early as 1958, the V 100 locomotive was equipped with a 1,200 hp Maybach “MD” engine that drove the axles of both trains with the aid of a hydraulic transmission and a hydraulic cardan shaft – a form of all-wheel drive. As an all-rounder, the “V 100” was highly flexible in freight and passenger service on both secondary and main lines. The maximum speed was 55 mph. Considering the locomotive’s low weight of 64 tons, the “V 100” had an exceptionally good power-to-weight ratio for the time. Day after day, Maybach engines with diesel train haulage left the company in Friedrichshafen at the end of the 1950s to be sold in Germany and abroad. The first foreign deliveries of Maybach engines for rail transport were to Scandinavia. In Norway, a series of high-speed railcars received modernized Maybach tunnel engines, Mekydro transmissions and axle drives. The trains were mainly used on the hilly route between the cities of Oslo-Bergen. In Finland, 1,200 hp locomotives with Maybach engines and Mekydro transmissions ran on the Helsinki-Pampere line. In the Irish state, railroads were also among the first customers for Maybach engines. In Genoa, the Ansaldo company produced “MD” engines licensed from Maybach Motorenbau for the Italian State Railroads. A first 2,200 hp test locomotive with two 12-cylinder engines was tested on the Milan-Turin line. From 1958, 1,600 hp locomotives with two eight-cylinder engines, Mekydro transmissions and axle drives were produced in series. At that time, the French State Railroads were among the major buyers of Maybach Mekydro transmissions. They were installed as standard in various railcar types in France. In Spain, railcars with Maybach “GTO” engines were already in service at the beginning of the 1930s. At the end of the 1950s, the famous Spanish Talgo-Express-Trains also received Maybach engines, following the German example. See also our blog article on the development of the Inter City Express (ICE) Trains in Germany – https://maybach.org/30-years-inter-city-express-network-the-inspiring-story-of-its-maybach-powered-ancestors/. Even in England, the cradle of the railroad industry, the various British railroad companies decided to modify some of their rolling stock by installing Maybach engines. From around 1958, the traditional companies Bristol Engines Limited (now Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited) and Estonia Bedford London manufactured Maybach engines under license for the British rail industry. The locomotives had been used primarily in the west of England. This explains why the Bristol Train, the fastest train in England, was powered by Maybach “MD” engines in those days. This legendary train completed the 188-kilometer London-Bristol route in 100 minutes.

With this historical knowledge, we can nowadays better understand the far-reaching influence that the technical achievements of Maybach Motorenbau GmbH had on developments in international rail transport. When Karl Maybach stood in 1959 on the premises of Maybach Motorenbau in Friedrichshafen, in awe of the imposing Krauss-Maffei locomotive (ML 3000 C’C’ – V 200 series) with the most modern MD engines of the time, he looked back on an impressive life’s work. The “V 200” multifunction locomotive was the absolute top product on the international market for railroad locomotives at the end of the 1950s.

Up until the mid-1950s, all German Federal Railroad locomotives, from the “V 60” locomotive (Maybach “GTO”) to the “V 80” locomotive and the legendary “V 200” general-purpose locomotive from Krauss Maffei, were powered by Maybach aggregates. From 1961 to 1966, the Maybach diesel engine program continued under the Maybach Mercedes-Benz brand. The motors are today in use in over 35 countries around the world.

As the summer vacation season 2022 winds down, some of you surely went to your vacation destination by automobile in a comfortable way and on well-built roads. Maybe even to Italy, one of the prime vacation destinations for many people. But how strenuous was such a journey by automobile in the 1920s, when mobility was still in its early days? A travel photo (dated 1924) tells the story: it is part of the Wilhelm and Karl Maybach Foundation’s museum-collection.

Doctor Karl-August Kroth shares his experiences regarding his exciting journey from Munich (Germany) to Palermo, Sicily (Italy) from the perspective of an automobile enthusiast – throughout the entire trip and as a Maybach driver. His conclusion after a journey of incredible 2,500 kilometers “The Maybach car is a sedan on wheels” (Kroth, Karl August, Mit dem Kraftwagen nach Sizilien. In: Der Motorfahrer No. 19, 1924). Regardless of whether the steepest mountains had to be climbed or descended, nothing seemed to cause the two Maybach cars of type 22 / 70 hp – W 3 any difficulties.

In September 1921, the Maybach-Motorenbau company presented the first Maybach passenger car with the type of designation “22 / 70 hp” – also known as “W 3” at the International Motor Show in Berlin, Germany. Equipped with many technical innovations, such as the four-wheel braking, the vehicle was one of the safest but also one most expensive automobiles of its time. The elaborate construction of the engine as well as the generously built chassis testify to the mentality according to which prestigious automobiles were built in Friedrichshafen from then on moving forward: “Only create the best from the best” (Karl Maybach). Unfortunately, no “W 3” automobile survived to our knowledge at this time.

Seemingly effortlessly, the engine managed to embrace and overcome all climbs in the mountains with the direct gear. If the direct gear was not sufficient, the reduction was engaged noiselessly. Perhaps the smooth ride was also possible due to the skills and experience of the Maybach driver, Anton Zwick, who is well known to us. Mr. Zwick was an official driver for the Maybach Motorenbau GmbH and enjoyed considerable success in racing in the 1920s and 1930s. Meanwhile, a number of cars from other manufacturers were parked on the roadside with their radiators steaming and their hoods open. August Kroth also praised the fabulous suspension of the two Maybach cars. Since the cars have very good road-holding due to their wide wheelbase and heavy weight, it was possible to drive through some curves at over 70 km/h.

The travel group also covered the difficult distance between Naples and Palermo, Italy not by ship as usual, but with the Maybach cars on the worst roads, which led through the most remote areas. Five days of continuous travel, sometimes 700 kilometers at a stretch, and not the slightest repair had to be made to the Maybach car. Only on day six did a flat tire cause a short break.

According to Karl August Kroth, the Maybach car gave the travel group unique impressions of Italy that only a few people of their time had the chance to experience. They were able to cross Italy from North to South. To visit areas whose unique beauty were known even to the fewest Italians, let alone the usual tourists.

Promoting Mentoring and Giving Back: Private Maybach Foundation Luncheon at The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance

San Francisco, CA. The Maybach Foundation, in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz and the Maybach brand, is proud to announce the hosting of a Private Luncheon at this year’s prestigious Concours d’Elegance event at Pebble Beach, California. This intimate, invitation-only gathering, set to take place at the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge on Saturday, August 20th, 2022, is a unique opportunity for Maybach enthusiasts, Foundation members, and industry executives to come together and engage in the concepts of luxury and giving back, as well as learn about the humble roots of the Maybach brand and how they live on today as part of the Maybach Foundation.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, is an annual coming together of rare and antique automobiles, international automotive luminaries, and motorcar enthusiasts from around the globe, all competing for one of the most desired awards in the automotive industry — Best of Show. Held on the spectacular 18^th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links, this unique competition is not a contest of speed, but rather elegance, with contestants being judged on their historical accuracy, technical merit, and style.

We are honored to welcome graphic artist, Michael Schwab, who joins us as a special guest at the Foundation’s Luncheon. From his studio in Marin County, Mr. Schwab has established a reputation as one of America’s most recognized and best-loved graphic artists. He has created award-winning logos for a remarkable list of prestigious clients, including San Francisco Opera, John F. Kennedy Center, and Pebble Beach. He has created the remarkable, iconic artwork Maybach Powered series for the Maybach Foundation and has won various awards for this iconic series.

As part of the Luncheon, we will also be hosting a “Maybach Foundation Panel Discussion,” during which we’ll exchange thoughts, ideas, and approaches to innovation, philanthropy, and giving back. The panel discussion will be moderated by Guardian Insight Group’s Managing Partner, and Host of “Silicon Valley Insider Radio Show,” Keith Koo. Panellists will include:

• Daniel Lescow, Head of Mercedes-Maybach;
• Dimitris Psillakis, Head of Marketing & Sales – Mercedes-Benz Cars North America, and CEO at Mercedes-Benz USA;
• Ulrich Schmid-Maybach, President and Founder – Maybach Foundation
• Martin Cordsmeier, Founder – Millionways;
• Rose W. Vitale, Managing Partner and Founder – FundHER World Capital.

An event of this magnitude is not made possible without the generous contributions of our sponsors and supporters. Their important financial contributions allow the Maybach Foundation to not only host the event, but also maintain our commitment to inspiring the next generation of innovators. We would like to extend a special thank you to the following organizations:

Mercedes-Maybach: A brand of Mercedes-Benz AG – one of the world’s most successful automotive companies.

FundHER World Capital: A private equity/venture capital fund which specializes in the investment of women-owned and women-led businesses.

DRA Family Office: A family-office-backed private investments firm based in San Diego, California.

BlackRock: One of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory and risk management solutions.

Millionways: The world’s first emotionally intelligent artificial intelligence.

Maybach Icons of Luxury: A family-owned company, which has extended the reach of the luxurious Maybach brand though the creation of prestigious MAYBACH handcrafted products.

Globant: A digitally native company, and a place where innovation, design, and engineering meet.

Potrero: A premier business development company based in Berlin, with affiliate offices in New York, Hong Kong, San Francisco, and Dubai.

The Maybach Foundation showcases Maybach’s engineering & design heritage and offers programs that mentor talent and inspire innovation. We focus on a dual-mission approach: Honoring the history of the ingenious designers Wilhelm and Karl Maybach, while developing mentoring projects designed to build bridges from the past to the future so that new inspirations and innovations can emerge. Your best future is helping someone else find theirs: The Maybach legacy is a testament to the power of mentoring.

To join the Maybach Foundation Community (“The Maybach Foundation Patrons”), get involved in mentoring opportunities, or secure your spot at future Maybach-exclusive events, make sure to visit the Foundation website, www.maybach.org.

For Media, PR, and other inquiries, please contact Maybach Foundation’s Executive Director

Dr. Corinna Basler: events@maybach.org

For more information, please visit our social media pages or contact us directly:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/maybach-foundation/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/maybachorg/

Maybach Exhibition Booth at Motorworld Classics Bodensee (Lake Constance) 2022

More than 30,000 classic car fans visited the Motorworld Classics Bodensee trade show in Friedrichshafen from May 06 to 08. This year’s key theme of the show was “100 Years of Maybach Automobiles”. The highlight was the exhibition booth of the Wilhelm and Karl Maybach Foundation and the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. We presented two very rare and elaborately restored Maybach automobiles of the SW 38 type as well as an extremely rare wooden underbody from the 1930s. At that time, the bodies of Maybach cars were built on such wooden frames – for our trade show attendees an unheard story. In addition, our interactive and virtual pop-up exhibition “100 Years of Maybach Automobiles 1921 – 2021” was on display. The classic car fans of all ages were equally enthusiastic.

In the past two years, the Motor World Classics Bodensee exhibition had to be postponed again and again due to the COVID 19 pandemic. For this reason, the Wilhelm and Karl Maybach Foundation was unable to show the pop-up exhibition “100 Years of Maybach Automobiles 1921 – 2021” at the classic car show in the anniversary year 2021 as planned. This year, the anniversary was finally celebrated in a big way – and the interest in the Maybach exhibition stand of the Wilhelm und Karl Maybach Foundation and the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. was overwhelming! The trade show organizers made the Maybach anniversary the focus of this year’s major event with over 30,000 visitors – and so the Motorworld Classics Bodensee was all about 100 years of Maybach automobiles! At the official press conference, Roland Bosch (member of the board Friedrichshafen Trade Fair), full of anticipation, recommended all journalists to visit the Maybach booth and pointed out the historical significance of the Maybach company history:

“Alongside the Zeppelin and Dornier companies, it was Maybach’s automobiles that made Friedrichshafen famous worldwide. […]the special exhibition of the Wilhelm und Karl Maybach Foundation in cooperation with the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. conveys to the public that innovation and internationally successful automobile construction took place here in the region”. Roland Bosch – Friedrichshafen Trade Fair

At the end of the press conference, a member of the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. and the Maybach Club presented his Maybach car of the type SW 38 built in 1939. Roland Bosch, Peter Schneider and last but not least the racing legend Gebhard Zeller were very impressed by the huge Maybach car. The 89-year-old Gebhard Zeller was born in Friedrichshafen. He knows the history of Maybach Motorenbau GmbH and, as a classic car fan, he is very excited to see the Maybach car once again. The proud owner of the Maybach “Type SW 38” started the engine, did a lap of honor and drove the classic car to the Maybach booth – This was the unofficial opening of the Motorworld Classics Bodensee 2022!

On Friday, the doors opened for the fair visitors for three days. The rush of classic car fans was already enormous on the first day of the event, well aware that there were two extremely rare classic cars presented at the Maybach stand. On the one hand, the world’s only preserved Maybach automobile with a body by the coachbuilder Ignaz Theodor Petera & Söhne and, on the other hand, a Maybach “Type SW 38” Cabriolet built in 1938 in a wonderful original state of preservation. The former vehicle was in the USA for 70 years and was fully restored in Germany. Both vehicles belong to owners from Lake Constance and the Friedrichshafen region. Thus, the two automobiles were brought back to the place of their origin. But that was not all that was on display at the Maybach stand.  The Wilhelm and Karl Maybach Foundation presented the pop-up exhibition “100 Years of Maybach Automobiles 1921 – 2021”. September 23, 2021 marked the hundredth anniversary of the premiere of the first Maybach automobile “Type 22/70 hp – W 3” to be built in series. The car was unveiled at the German Motor Show in Berlin in 1921 and impressed the public with its extremely high quality of workmanship and technical features. For example, a four-wheel brake system was fitted as standard in a German automobile for the first time and the car could be driven without shifting gears. The Maybach “Type W 3” already represented the engineering principles according to which automobiles of the Maybach brand were to be developed and manufactured under the direction of Karl Maybach in Friedrichshafen: Meticulous precision for the highest quality. Only the best materials, materials for the greatest possible   operational reliability, and the use of leading edge  technology for the optimum in comfortable driving. In our blog article from October 2021 you can read everything about the 100 years of Maybach automobiles.

Links: https://maybach.org/100-years-of-maybach-automobiles-1921-2021/

The special exhibition “100 Years of Maybach Automobiles 1921 – 2021” tells the extensive story of automobile construction at Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH in nine chapters. The development line of the historic Maybach car models is shown, as well as a selection of the Mercedes-Maybach vehicles that have been relaunched since 2002. Beginning in 1919 with the “Versuchswagen 1” (Experimental car 1) with the newly developed “W 1” car engine, through the Maybach automobiles of the “Type W 3” and “Type W 5”, to the legendary Maybach “Type 12 Zeppelin” of the 1930s and on to the high-selling Maybach “Schwingachswagen”. With the presentation of modern Mercedes-Maybach with electric drives, the exhibition finally takes a look into the future of automobility. Selected objects from the museum collection of the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. and the Wilhelm und Karl Maybach Foundation were presented on the themes of automobile technology, car-racing and the Maybach corporate values.

The exhibition format invited all trade show visitors to become active and explore the Maybach story themselves. Fourteen  interactive thematic modules with automobile portraits of unique vehicle histories, digitized exhibits and eyewitness reports from Maybach employees could be explored interactively. To give just one example, we told the adventurous story about the transfer trips of Maybach chassis to the body builders – see our picture. As an automobile manufacturer, Maybach-Motorenbau produced from 1921 to 1941 only the chassis with engine, transmission and steering. The rest of the car body is built individually to customer specifications by specialized coachbuilders. In addition to Auer in Stuttgart, Erdmann & Rossi in Berlin and Gläser in Dresden, Hermann Spohn in Ravensburg produced most of the Maybach car bodies. Hardly imaginable, the bare chassis are transferred by factory drivers in wind and weather.

Another highlight of the Maybach stand was an original wooden body underframe for a Maybach type SW 38 car from the 1930s. At this point you need to know: Maybach Motorenbau GmbH in Friedrichshafen produced the chassis with engine and sold it to its customers. The customer could then have the body designed and produced by a coachbuilder entirely according to his (or her) individual wishes. A carriage builder handmade a base according to the design template. Wood was used as a building material because it was more flexible and malleable.

Also, according to the design template, a tinsmith hand-mounted individual metal sheets on this wooden frame – this type of production is called “Planking.” Thus, in painstaking work, step by step, the entire body was created. The wooden frame remained as a supporting framework under the metal body. Just a few years ago, the Maybach car was completely restored. The wooden frame had to be replaced with a new one. The owner of the Maybach car has kept the wooden frame as a testimony of time. A comparable object is presented at the Museum for Historic Maybach Vehicles in Neumarkt. Beyond that, we know of no other example. Truly, a  very exciting story with a very rare object.

With the varied educational offer, consisting of classical media and at the same time contemporary multimedia presentation forms, automobile fans of different age groups were addressed. The special feature of this year’s Maybach stand at Motorworld Classics Bodensee was the combination of a classic car show with rare Maybach cars and a modern special exhibition with original contemporary testimonials from Maybach automotive history. The classic car fans were also able to talk to former employees of Maybach Motorenbau GmbH, members of the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V. and the team of Maybach historians from the Wilhelm and Karl Maybach Foundation.

For the Wilhelm and Karl Maybach Foundation and the Freundeskreis Maybach Museum e.V., the appearance at Motorworld Classics Bodensee 2022 was a tremendous accomplishment. We would like to thank all visitors and Messe Friedrichshafen and look forward to seeing you again next year.

On December 1st and December 2nd, 2021, the Project MAYBACH concept car from Virgil Abloh was revealed in Miami at the Rubell Museum – taking place during the Miami Art Basel. The Maybach Foundation mourns the loss of the barrier breaking designer whose legacy will undoubtedly be remembered by future generations.

The unique collaborative concept creation that the legendary visionary Virgil Abloh designed together with Gorden Wagener, Mercedes-Benz’s chief design officer, is a true ground-up concept car:
This e-Maybach car is described as “a collaborative electric show car designed to inspire the next generation, and forever question the status quo,” which helps to redefine modern luxury vehicles.” What better way to do it than with and a name that has been breaking innovative barriers since its existence: Maybach!

This is Abloh’s second project with Mercedes-Benz, after reimagining the Mercedes-Benz G Class last year, coinciding with the 100th year anniversary of Karl Maybach and his father Wilhelm debuting the first Maybach W 3.

The Maybach Foundation is proud to have officially participated at this honorable event in person. Our Executive Director of the Maybach Foundation, Corinna Basler, Executive Director of the Maybach Foundation was onsite to represent Uli Maybach and the Maybach Foundation. This event was a homage to Virgil Abloh. We know his legacy—and his love for art will live on in his designs.

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