Happy Birthday Mercedes Benz!

Slow In, Fast Out
At the same time Benz was working on his machine, another German, Gottlieb Daimler, was constructing the first four-wheeled car. In 1901, shortly after his death, Daimler's company began selling the first model Mercedes automobile, designed by Wilhelm Maybach (Mercedes was the name of the daughter of the board member who supposedly specified the engine). And in 1926, in order to weather the post World-War I German financial crisis, the two auto makers merged to form Daimler-Benz and began marketing Mercedes-Benz cars. In this photo, a driver maneuvers an early Mercedes racer around a rally corner at the Prince Henry Cup in 1908.

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