Daimler’s divvy-up

Story Colin Smith

VEN WITH AN AMICABLE SEPARATION, THERE IS ALWAYS

the tricky issue of who gets the family heirlooms. And so it’s been with December’s division of global automotive giant Daimler into two independent companies…one taking over all of the truck and bus business, the other focusing on cars and vans.

Historic Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles – plus the make’s truck and bus archives – have been moved from Stuttgart to the Mercedes-Benz truck plant in Worth, in southern Germany, where Daimler Truck AG will be headquartered.

As part of the moving out process, a convoy of transporters – plus a couple of historic trucks under their own power – made the first trip.

The trucks included a Mercedes-Benz LP 333 from 1960 (known as a “millipede” due to its two steerable front axles) and a Merc LP 608 that is the first truck produced after the opening of the Wörth plant in 1965.

Along with Mercedes-Benz Trucks’ archival material, the initial transfer also involved the transport of prized pieces of the make’s commercial vehicle history, including a Mercedes-Benz O 321 H panorama bus (1962), a 1937 Merc L 1500 with a wood gas generator, the second Unimog built (in 1946) and a 1926 Mercedes-Benz OE diesel tractor.

Two Actros tractor units and a Unimog U530 from the current Merc product range did the honours in the transporting duties, accompanied by a rally-spec Unimog U400….which was used as a service vehicle during the 2006 Paris-Dakar Rally.

Daimler Truck intends to mainly house its collection of historical exhibits near its truck and bus locations.

The collection encompasses around 130 vehicles, of which about 30 were previously located in the Stuttgart area…

Plus powertrains, parts and accessories from the company’s

Clockwise from top, this page: The so-called Mercedes-Benz Millipede, now 61 years old, leads the convoy south through Germany...a transporter carries history in the form of one of the first Unimogs, a 1926 diesel Merc tractor and a wood-gas powered L 1500.....LP 608 is the first truck built at the M-B Worth plant....Actros shifts a ‘62 model bus....the LP 333 heads the convoy....the shift was no doubt the first of many, given that Daimler Truck’s collection runs to about 130 vehicles

125-year truck history.

The Daimler Truck archives had been housed in more than 160 square metres of storage space. The documents filled more than 2000 metres of shelving, on several levels.

And the archival material includes 2600 rolls of film and 600 magnetic tapes that contain over 1000 hours of historical moving images.

Sven Gräble, head of operations for Mercedes-Benz Trucks – the man responsible for the make’s global production network – welcomed the convoy when it arrived at Wörth, saying: “Even though Daimler Truck will go its own way in the future, we and the car and van colleagues will continue to share a history full of pioneering spirit, a wealth of ideas and the courage to strike out in new directions.

“I am delighted that we have found a new home for our historical commercial vehicles at our truck and bus plants. These wheeled witnesses to times past represent Daimler Truck’s 125-year history. In the future, they will be located right next to the manufacturing facilities for our future products.”

Until now, the classic vehicles and the archives of Daimler AG have been centrally managed in Stuttgart. After the corporate split, the Group analogue archive for overarching, companywide topics prior to the separation will remain in Stuttgart – along with the archive for cars and vans.

The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim will continue to be the main publicly accessible location for the shared company history, including trucks and buses.

The truck and bus exhibits have until now been spread between the Mercedes-Benz Museum, the truck plant in Wörth and two warehouses near Wörth and Stuttgart. Trucks and buses are also located at various other company facilities and as exhibition loans in a number of international museums.

The collection include historic exhibits, a digital archive and future-oriented concept vehicles. The oldest vehicles in the collection are an original Daimler Motor-Lastwagen from 1898… and a replica of an 1896 model.

Employees from the newly-created separate companies will continue to be able to use the digital archive, as will historians, media representatives and other interested individuals.

The digital collections concerning Daimler history that are of an overarching nature or that cannot be specifically attributed to one or the other company will be accessible through both of the companies. T&D