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| Photo of similar car by Benutzer:Softeis at de.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. |
A 1904 Mercedes-Simplex 60HP car that recently sold for over $12 million is one of just five remaining examples of a model that helped build the world's foremost luxury brand, writes Brian Byrne.
British press baron Alfred Harmsworth bought the car, of which just 102 were built, in 1903. The recent sale of the car also meant the car leaving the family which had owned it through successive generations for 121 years. With a 9.3-litre engine, in its time it was considered the fastest production car in the world, able to reach 80mph. Since the 1960s, the car was on display at the Beaulieu Motor Museum in Hampshire, UK.
Big and powerful for its day, the car was popular with wealthy families. The model was built by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft on behalf of Emil Jellinek, who was selling Daimler cars in France, using his daughter’s name Mercedes as the brand. The Mercedes-Benz name came about in 1926, when Daimler merged with Karl Benz's car company.
