Mercedes Simplex

The Mercedes Simplex was a large luxury automobile built by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft from 1902 to 1909 and designed by Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart. It followed the Mercedes 35 hp and took its name from the idea of comfort through simplicity, since it was easy to drive by the standards of its day. It had a long, wide body with a low centre of gravity, a pressed steel frame, a front-mounted four-cylinder engine driving the rear wheels through a four-speed gate gearbox and a chain, and it kept the Mercedes name as the brand of the company rather than Daimler. The 60 hp version of 1903 helped create the super-luxury car class. Thirteen original cars were shown at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in 2005 and 2006, among them the oldest surviving Mercedes, once owned by William K. Vanderbilt Jr.