The Washington herald., 1912-05-26
MERCEDES BUILDER
USED his WIT
How the Vow Great JsIlinscks
HumhIed Baron Rcthschilds
to Market His Car.
NJ Z. MosKovIcs.


Away back N 1871 I spsnt some
months IN the technical department Of
| ths lserosdes factory At Cannstadt,
lnear stuttrart, WurtsmberE, Germany.
| At this time the automobile was In It's
infancy. but the present model Of the
/ great German machine was at that time
\ conceded 10 be superior 20 any In the
worlc. The success OF the now famous
i machine was made possible BY Herr
Mercsdes Jeliinecke.
We live In the era OF the improved
automobile. The American public has
ceased 70 marvel at the improvements
made IN the motor car. The designers
/ OF pleasure cars bend their efforts
throughout the year 20 further refine
the touring and closed models Of the
cars made IN this country, and they
/ hardly excite more than a passing
tcomment. II seems 10 me that we have
/ IN q measure forgotten the cars Of yes
teryear.
Before this great European became
famous IN the automobile world he was
attached to the Austrian diplomatic
service and his name was plain Jel-
linseke Later when the car became
world famous he had his name changed
| 10 Mercedes Jellinecke.
MY hrst glimpse Of this noted car
was at Nice IN 1875, and at that time
they had just marketed their four-cyl-
tinder motor. the frst motor OF this size
ever smployed BY an automobile car
builder. The car at that time was as
far superior TO the other makes OF auto
mobiles as the most luxurious limou-
sine Of to-day when II Is compared to
our modern single cylinder runabouts
Il was the acmo of mechanical effort
ana body design.
The car was at the time known as the
paimeler-simplex, and manufactured by
the Daimeler Mortorem Gesellschaft
the model being four cylinders and
rated At A-horsepower. The output, II
memory serves me right, was fifteen
ears IN 1895.
Jellinecks had bought the entire out
put Of the company and he was con-
fTonted with the task Of disposing OF
such q large number Of cars. II was .
real task. for at that time the market
for cars was small and they were lux
uries that only the rich could AFFORD.
Being . rsSourceful man he hit upon
scheme that ultimately stamped him
as one Of the greatest men In the game
in the old world. One OF the daredevil
featB Of motoring At that time in Eu-
rope was 10 climb Mount LatourbIe,
near the Riviera.
Baron Dr. RothschIIds owned q two
cylinder Panhard. and Il was his daily
custom to thrilI the populace by nego.
tiatinE the steep grade OF LatourbIe
every afternoon IN his Panhard, taking
his coffee at the restaurant on the sum-
NIT.
JeIiinscke n his Mercedes four-cylIn-
der decided TO humble the noted inan-
cier. Two consecutive afternoons he
followed the baron on his ascent. He
passed the PankRrd without deIEning
70 speak TO the nobleman. This was un-
heard Of, and piqued the baron.
Baron Rothschilds then sought out
Jellineeke, and the meeting resulted IN
the forming If q combination Of Jel-
ltneoke and RothEchildB, and with the
finances at command they took over the
output ana ths plant and laid the foun-
dation for the great Mercedes Of to-day.
-Four years later, IN 1901, an American |
met his death in one Of the first IS |
horsepower four-cylinder Mercedes TAX
ing the grade OF Latourbie At nfty miles
an hour. This man was Count Zborow-
ski, and his home was at EliEabethtovn, |
y. J. He made his fortune in Wall
Street and, being independently rich, he |
chose to drive his own car in q hill |
cltmp held on Latourbie, but was un-
able to duplicate the feat that Jel- |
hnecks had pulled OF years before. HIS /
family had been in America for two
centuries and his ancestors fought in |
the Revolution. The name Of the car
was changed by Jellinecke from the |
Daimeler-Simplsx to the Mercedes in
honor Of his daughter. Mercedes Jsl- !
linecke, and Gfterward Jellinecke chang
ed the family name to include Mercedes. |
This bit Of historical automobile incl
dent serves to show that the car Of to-
day was much indebted TO this great |
man
Later, as the factory grew in size, Il |
was moved TO the present modern plant /
at Stuttgart Unterturkeim, wurtemberE,
Cerunanv