Wilhelm Maybach

He is probably the most granting of the three famous German motor vehicle engineers of that time. This might also be due to the fact that he, born in 1846, lost his parents with 10 years of age, and had to live in a charitable organization, the Gustav Werner Bruderhaus in Reutlingen. Luckily for him, the organization was attached to an engine factory where he worked as a technical draughtsmen. Gottlieb Daimler happened to take over the control of the factory for two years to reorganize it. They felt a mutual admiration for each other and despite an age difference of 12 years, they stayed together from now on up to the end of Daimler's life.

Already in the job after the next in the gas engine factory Deutz, Karl Maybach proved his importance. Among other things, he is crucially involved in the realization of the Otto engine. He also accompanied Daimler when he left the company after 10 years, because Daimler saw no chance for the realization of a vehicle engine there. From 1882 on, Maybach worked in the Daimler workshop. He more and more develops himself beyond a purely reproducing role. He probably had a crucial impact on the development and test runs of the new, high-speed four-stroke engine. He managed to convince Daimler of the necessity for a vehicle conceived particularly for the combustion engine. In the new created Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft (engine society) he became technical director in 1895. It was difficult to keep up his loyalty to his aging and heart-ill boss Daimler in his last years.

Maybach almost advanced to be the "king" of the technical designers after the death of Gottlieb Daimler. In the new century Emil Jellinek took control of the Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft, first as successful dealer, later on with a sales monopoly. He was responsible for the fact that the vehicles were all designated after the first name of its daughter "Mercedes".

Jellinek tried to allure his customers with racing sucesses. In order to do so there had to be someone to satisfy the customer's demand for ever more innovations and increased engine performance. These innovations had to be on time and reliably for the new race or new season. This person was William Maybach. One could see this co-operation as an example for a short link between customer demands and design. A small selection of the inventions achieved by Maybach:

Although the Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft experienced a bloom time and exceeded its competitor Benz by far, Maybach experienced hostility against him. When the executive committee united against him, even Jellinek was not able to help him. It took him a long time to recover from this shock. From 1907 until his death in 1929 he shifted his activity to the Bodensee, where he started building engines for the successful airships of count Zeppelin. He helped his son Karl, when he founded the Maybach engine works in Friedrichshafen. The Maybach automobiles of the years 1921 - 1939 were nearly more praised than those of Daimler and Benz. Up to his death with 83 years he experienced some of the appreciation he deserved much earlier. Today he finally has the reputation of one of the main actors to contribute to the success of the Daimler factory. He is assigned to the Mercedes flagship model, which is now manufactured under the direction of Daimler-Chrysler at the place of the old factory.