A Hint of Class: The Best of British Motoring

The Best or Nothing: Mercedes-Benz

To many of us, Mercedes-Benz is a name synonymous with luxurious and cutting-edge automobiles. However, ‘Mercedes’ the brand was in fact inspired by a 12-year old girl. Credited as the inventor of the automobile, engineer Karl Benz (of Benz & Co) patented the three-wheeled motor car known as the ‘Motorwagen’ way back in 1886. Less than a decade later, Benz introduced the Velocipede (Velo), which became the first large-scale production automobile and saw Benz & Co become the second-largest engine manufacturer in Germany. Around the same time, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach were developing the bicycle-inspired Daimler Reitwagen (Riding Car), the world’s first motorcycle with a single-cylinder internal combustion engine. In 1889, they built their first automobile and created the Daimler-MotorenGesellschaft (DMG) business the very next year, successfully producing a number of race cars built on contract for Emil Jellinek. This in turn leads us on to that 12-year old girl. Emil Jellinek was a European entrepreneur who established an automobile trading company in the late 1890s while working as Austria’s Consul General in Nice, France. He sold multiple car brands, including those of DaimlerMotoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) to French aristocrats and went on to sell them globally to the likes of the Rothschild family. Emil believed that the name Mercedes (meaning kindness or mercy in Spanish) brought good fortune. He not only called his daughter Mercedes and labelled his family’s residence Villa Mercedes, but even raced under the pseudonym of ‘Monsieur Mercedes’ too. So it was no surprise that 12-year-old Mercédès Jellinek provided the inspiration for the 1901 Mercedes 35 HP, the first model of many to come to adopt the moniker.

Inventor Karl Benz sitting The Benz Motorwagen, the world’s first automobile, c1886.

Designed by Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler (son of Gottlieb) but the initiative of Emil Jellinek, the Mercedes 35 HP was regarded as the first modern motor car. It was a roadbased adaptation of Emil’s racing car and featured a 5.9-litre straight-four petrol engine making 35 horsepower (26 kilowatts). This first Mercedes generated huge excitement at the “Nice Race Week” in March 1901 as it was a powerful, lightweight vehicle with a low centre of gravity. It was a stand out from all previously built cars and signaled the end for the carriages used in automobile manufacturing. Later, in 1901, the name ‘Mercedes’ was re-registered by DMG worldwide as a protected trademark. Their production capacity was extended as they created the first Mercedes models, led by the ‘60’. Although the Mercedes Simplex 60 HP was the successor to the 35, it wasn’t a racing car. Capable of 120 km/h, the 9.3L 60 put more emphasis on touring and luxury and established itself as a top-status car to own, a direction the brand has stayed true to since. The development of the Mercedes logo came about in 1909 when the the sons of Gottlieb Daimler (Paul and Adolf) remarked that their father previously used a star for a symbol. Taking inspiration from that, the DMG Board registered two logos as trademarks of the Mercedes brand - a three-pointed star logo and a four-pointed star logo. It was the three-pointed star that was ultimately selected, the familar emblem adorns the front radiator of vehicles from 1910 onwards. According to the company, the logo signifies the automaker’s drive toward its engines dominating the land, sea, and air. But its relevance is underscored when in June 1926 (due to the post WWI German economic crisis) three automotive pioneers (Daimler/Mercedes DMG and Benz & Co) merged, becoming Daimler-Benz and adopting Mercedes-Benz as its automobile trademark. The merger was evidently highly successful, with 7,000 cars produced by the following year. It has been a story of success ever since. Mercedes-Benz have produced some of the most spectacular performance and luxury vehicles on the planet – from the powerful and desirable such as the SLR McLaren and AMG G-Wagon, to the ultimately collectible such as the 300 SL Gull-Wing Coupe. And let’s not forget the importance of Pagodas. Designed by Paul Bracq and named after the shape of its roof (reminiscent of the concavity of oriental shrines), the technically and stylistically groundbreaking W113 ‘Pagoda’ set new standards in terms of style and passive safety, underscored with a certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’ French flair - to ardent fans, the Pagoda remains the measure of all things. Mercedes-Benz - The Best or Nothing!

words by Dave Mcleod

This first Mercedes generated huge excitement at the “Nice Race Week” in March 1901 as it was a powerful, lightweight vehicle with a low centre of gravity. It was a stand out from all previously built cars and signaled the end for the carriages used in automobile manufacturing.

The 1901 Mercedes 35 HP which was the first model to adopt the Mercedes moniker.

A Hint of Class: The Best of British Motoring

We may travel and socialise less these days, but there are other ways to have fun: just browse the pages of this catalogue if you need inspiration. And what inspiration it is, for these pages showcase the sorts of cars that most folk may only dream of owning new. An older or classic car may be your ideal route to accessing the ultimate in luxury, speed or brand cachet, and if it’s luxury brand cachet you want, you can’t go past the Brits. Among the cream of the crop within these pages is the Aston Martin Lagonda. Only 645 of these four-door cars were produced, and this was among the last. A small number of the Series 1s attracted so much attention to the brand that in 1976 an entirely new design was penned. It featured a sexy wedge shape evocative of such cars as the Lamborghini Countach or the DMC DeLorean. Make this hand-built car yours, and you’ll not only slide into an interior of premium leather, but you’ll be faced with advanced electronics for its time – this was the first production car to feature a digital instrument panel. The Series 4, built from 1987, rivalled Bentley or Rolls-Royce for price and prestige. Given only one was built per week, it has the added glamour of rarity. This is further spiced by the fact the Lagonda badge is on furlough, though rumours persist that Aston Martin will revitalise the brand. Of course you can drive a brand-new Bentley, but a classic lets you dip your toe in the water at a lower entry price. I drove an Arnage T when it was brand new, and in 2004 it retailed from $495,000. There’s a 2001 car in this catalogue ready for a new owner at an eighth that price – a lot of car for the money.

Aston Martin Lagonda print advertising c1988.

1991 Aston Martin Lagonda , est. $300,000 - $350,000.

An older or classic car may be your ideal route to accessing the ultimate in luxury, speed or brand cachet, and if it’s luxury brand cachet you want, you can’t go past the Brits.

est . $55,000 - $65,000 1954 Triumph TR2,

While some high-end luxury and performance cars might be seen as investments, most make unbeatable value after a few years. The majority of the technical advancements we now take for granted in modern cars were first introduced at the rarer end of the price range. Even though Bentleys sell partly on their olde-worlde gravitas, you can certainly expect extra-level spec. This goes right down to sliding and reclining rear seats, as well as the traditional lashings of wood and enough leather to furnish a herd of cows. The effortless luxury of yesteryear for the price of a mainstream car has to be cause for celebration! And there’s another advantage to driving the sort of limo normally associated with royalty and heads of industry; you’ll access some quite startling performance. A luxury limo over five metres long isn’t designed to be flung round corners, but its acceleration is to die for. Not for nothing have Arnage turbo owners boasted of thrashing boy racers in the traffic-light wars – that 2004 base-level Arnage boasted 875Nm of torque and could hit 100km/h from rest in six seconds. This rapid acceleration is done with such refinement your passengers barely know you’ve moved. It’s hard to beat the effortless presence, the eiderdown ride and the luxurious feeling you’ll get from a Bentley, or a Rolls-Royce like the two-door Camargue in this catalogue. But if you prefer your luxury sculpted by a pragmatic edge, there’s always Range Rover: this catalogue features a Jannspeedtuned example. The famous tuning company manufactured a range of equipment for these luxe cross-country kings, with everything from a turbo kit on down. A Stage I Jannspeed conversion in 1989 could boost power by an eye-watering 25 percent. Janspeed’s twin-turbo Rover 3500 could shove a Range Rover to 225km/h, an exciting speed at the best of times, though unlikely to have been measured across a high-country paddock. Of course if you’re hunting further down the price scale, there are plenty of eminently affordable British cars with class. A 1996 Jaguar Sovereign comes with similar advantages to a same-age Bentley at the price of a five-year-old Toyota Corolla. A Series II Landrover, whether pristine or not, will always carry a whiff of cross-continental adventure, while a little further down the investment scale come excellent everyday classics like the 1970s Triumph 2500 going to auction, a Brit with a hint of class that stood above any mass-market runabout from the start.

words by Jacqui Madelin