Mercedes-Benz O 10000

The Mercedes-Benz O 10000 was a coach launched by Daimler-Benz in 1937 and built until 1939. It was the largest of the German coaches, designed to link big cities over the motorway network, but its use was very limited and few were made. The Deutsche Reichspost, which ran passenger coach services between German cities, found its 35-seat coaches too small on some routes and asked German makers for a bigger one. Mercedes-Benz built it on its heavy L 10000 three-axle truck, one of a range of 1935 trucks with six-cylinder diesels and a seven-tonne payload. The O 10000 was twelve metres long with three axles and seated 40 to 50. Its OM 54 inline six-cylinder diesel of 12.5 litres produced 150 horsepower and moved the 17-tonne coach at up to 65 kilometres per hour, with Knorr compressed-air brakes. A double-decker of 1939 for Berlin, carrying 80, had no sequel.