Mercedes-Simplex 60 PS (1903 to 1905)

Mercedes-Simplex 60 PS launched in 1903. The then top-of-the-range model is now one of the most spectacular exhibits in the Mercedes-Benz Classic collection. The elegant and luxurious touring sedan from 1904 was once owned by Emil Jellinek, a key protagonist in the early history of the Mercedes brand.

In the years to follow, the Mercedes and Benz sales ranges always included several high-end, luxury models. Even though open-top tourers were by far the most commonly-used body form during this period, the more powerful models were also offered as luxury sedans affording the ultimate in passenger comfort.

In the mid-1920s it was a different picture. Due to ever more powerful engines and increasing volumes of traffic, which the road-building programme was unable to keep up with, safe handling characteristics, a comfortable interior and optimum protection against wind, rain and dust were becoming more and more important. Saloons and Pullman saloons gradually began to replace the open-top tourers. The important high-end, luxury models of this era were the six-cylinder compressor 15/70/100 PS and 24/100/140 PS, produced under the Mercedes marque at the end of 1924. In 1926, the merger of the two previously independent companies founded by Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler led to the creation of Daimler-Benz AG, which added the first Mercedes-Benz production car with an eight-cylinder engine, the Nürburg 460 (W 08), to its model range in 1928. It remained in the sales programme – with continuous further development – until 1939. The last model was the type 500. From 1926 onwards, the entry-level vehicle in the Mercedes-Benz high-end range was the six-cylinder 12/55 PS, which was continually refined and developed through to the launch of the Mercedes-Benz Mannheim 370 (W 10) in 1931. The completely new Mercedes-Benz 290 (W 18) followed in 1933, but went on to be replaced by the type 320 (W 142) in 1937.

• 60 hp
• State-of-the-art high-performance engine: large-displacement four-cylinder unit with overhead intake valves
• Highly efficient honeycomb radiator
• Longer wheelbase and low centre of gravity

Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp from 1904: the top Mercedes model of its time, it served Emil Jellinek, who named the cars after his daughter Mercedes Jellinek, as an extremely elegant and luxurious touring sedan. Photo taken in around 1912.

Emil Jellinek's Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp touring sedan at Nice harbour in around 1912. Emil Jellinek (centre) on the gangway of his yacht 'Mercedes'.

Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp touring sedan belonging to Emil Jellinek, taken in 1953 at the Untertürkheim plant. Daimler-Benz AG, as the company was then known, had acquired the car from the Jellinek family in 1952.

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