Fun Facts Mercedes-Benz
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If you are a true Mercedes-Benz fan, you should know everything from where it all began to what the brand has in store for years to come. Today we will focus on some historical facts that you might find interesting about the brand that stands behind the three-pointed star.
A man named Karl Benz invented the first ever automobile in 1886 and he called it the “Motorwagen.” This invention was funded by his wife, Bertha Ringer Benz, and without his knowledge Bertha decided to test the Motorwagen by taking it on a 120-130 mile road trip. The Motorwagen was powered by a four-spoke engine that gave the automobile about .9hp. The “Mercedes” part of Mercedes-Benz came from Emil Jellinek’s daughter whose name was Mercedes. Emil was an entrepreneur who worked with the company in the early 1900s. That is how Mercedes-Benz got it’s name.
In 1906, Mercedes-Benz came out with their first true hybrid car – the Mixte model. The Mixte had a gas engine in front with a dynamo that supplied spark for the two motors in the rear hubs. The Mixte had a top speed of 75mph. Though the Mixte did not turn out to be a huge success, Mercedes-Benz does get credit for being one of the first brands to experiment with a hybrid vehicle.
Moving away from the Mercedes-Benz’ that help you get around day-to-day, now we are going to talk about the brand’s presence on the racetrack. As most of you know Mercedes-Benz is also known for high-performance race cars. Most of them are clad in the company’s recognizable silver shade, but that color was originally an off-the-cuff improvisation.
In 1934 at the Nürburgring, Mercedes-Benz’ white, aluminum-bodied W 25 race car needed to be less than 750 kg to race. After weighing in it was docked for being one kg over the weight limit and the only way to fix this problem was to have the paint grounded off which resulted in a sparkling silver racer. The Mercedes-Benz won the race and that is why silver is Mercedes-Benz’ iconic color.
These are just a few fun historical facts about Mercedes-Benz. There is so much more to know and love about the brand behind the three pointed star. For more fun facts about the brand stay tuned on our blog page!