In 1890, after parting ways with Deutz AG, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach established Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt, Germany. DMG revolutionized the design and manufacture of internal combustion engines, inventing the world’s first four-stroke petrol engine and float-feed carburetor.
Despite groundbreaking developments, Daimler and Maybach initially attracted little interest for their products in Germany. Paris was the cradle of the burgeoning automotive industry. DMG successfully sold manufacturing rights for its V-twin engine to the leading French manufacturers — Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot.
In 1898, Emil Jellinek, Viennese-born Consul General for Austria-Hungary, established himself as the official agent for DMG in Nice, France, selling new Phoenix Daimler motor cars to wealthy residents of the French Riviera — at the time, the world’s second-largest market after Paris for automobiles.
While they were large, powerful and relatively fast, the Phoenix Daimlers were ungainly in appearance and challenging to operate. Frustrated by their aesthetic and mechanical compromises, Jellinek demanded that DMG develop an all-new motorcar and agreed to buy the first 36 examples built. He named these new automobiles after his young daughter — Mercédès — believing it would hold greater international appeal. In France, memories of the Franco-Prussian War had left lingering resentment toward the Germans.
Unveiled in December 1900, the striking new DMG-built Mercedes 35HP, designed by Wilhelm Maybach, is widely regarded as the first truly modern motorcar. It boasted several revolutionary features: a low, pressed-steel chassis, honeycomb radiator, low-tension ignition, scroll clutch, water-cooled drum brakes and an H-pattern, 4-speed gearbox with dual-chain drive.
The following year, DMG returned to Nice with the improved Mercedes-Simplex 40HP. Mercedes quickly became the car du jour among well-heeled motoring enthusiasts in France, England, and the U.S., building the marque’s international reputation.
Developed throughout 1902 and debuted in 1903, the Mercedes-Simplex 60HP offered a new standard of performance, thanks to its high-output, 9.25-liter 4-cylinder engine. Its overhead intake valves yielded the greatest volumetric efficiency of any engine of its day. Capable of 80 mph and easy to handle, with its relatively long wheelbase and low center of gravity, the new Mercedes-Simplex 60HP was the first true dual-purpose automobile — a powerful, reliable tourer that could also win races after removing its rear seats and fenders and fitting a lightweight 2-seat body.
Between 1903 to 1905, the Mercedes-Simplex 60HP became the finest, fastest production car in the world, winning countless speed trials, hillclimbs and circuit races. The DMG Works in Cannstatt built 102 Mercedes-Simplex 60HP cars between late 1902 and 1905. Through Emil Jellinek in Nice and Charles Lehmann’s C.L. Charley dealership in Paris, these magnificent automobiles were sold to an elite clientele that included American millionaires William K. Vanderbilt and Clarence Gray Dinsmore, as well as aristocratic European enthusiasts such as Baron de Caters, Baron Henri de Rothschild and Count Louis Zborowski.
SCM Analysis
Detailing
| Vehicle: | 1903 Mercedes-Simplex 60HP “Roi Des Belges” |
| Years Produced: | 1903–04 |
| Number Produced: | 102 |
| Engine Number Location: | Stamped on plate attached to left side of engine block |
| Club Info: | Antique Automobile Club of America, Horseless Carriage Club of America |
| Website: | http://www.aaca.org |
| Alternatives: | 1902–04 Mors Type Z 60HP, 1903–04 Renault 30HP, 1903–04 Daimler 28/36 |
This car, Lot 128, sold for $12,105,000, including buyer’s premium, at Gooding & Company’s Amelia Island, FL auction on March 1, 2024.
Last year, Bonhams Cars sold a 1912 Simplex Torpedo Tourer for $4.8 million. Now Gooding & Company has sold this Mercedes-Simplex Tourer for over twice that sum. Why the interest in early Brass Era cars, and why are they bringing such high bids?
Knowledgeable collectors believe that important Brass cars, especially lithe speedsters and massive tourers, are the “Old Masters” of the historic-car genre. Think of this car as a Rembrandt on wheels. Value boils down to several criteria: technical competence, rarity, provenance, unique history and a famous owner.
Fame and fortune
British publishing magnate Alfred C.W. Harmsworth, born in 1865, established his first newspaper, Answers to Correspondents, in 1888. He then combined famed papers like the London Daily Mail, the Sunday Dispatch and The Daily Mirror into what would eventually become Amalgamated Press, the world’s largest periodical publishing company. By 1902, he owned 15 cars, including a Mercedes-Simplex 40HP. Three years later, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Northcliffe.
As World War I ensued, the giant Harmsworth publishing empire controlled much of the newspaper circulation in Britain, with tremendous political influence. He was an early motorcar enthusiast, championing the Royal Automobile Club’s 1,000 Miles Trial, and he edited an early motoring book, Motors and Motor-Driving, with essays by famous automobile enthusiasts such as John Scott-Montagu, Charles S. Rolls, S.F. Edge and Charles Jarrott.
A fateful purchase
Of course, the motoring lord was among the first to place an order for the latest 60HP Mercedes. His new car debuted at the annual Nice Speed Week on the French Riviera, where it set a new mile-long speed-trial record on the Promenade des Anglais. The car was then sent back to the U.K. to publicize its success to the various English car makers.
More racing followed. At the Ballybannon Hillclimb at Castlewellan, during the Irish Speed Trials, Harmsworth defeated both C.S. Rolls’ Mors and Dinsmore’s 60HP Mercedes, winning the Henry Edmonds Hill-Climbing Trophy. Later that year, the car was rebodied by J. Rothschild et Fils with “Roi des Belges” coachwork, which it still wears today.
Prior to World War I, Harmsworth drove the car extensively in travels around both the U.K. and Europe. On his death in 1922, the Mercedes was bequeathed to his young son, Alfred John Francis Alexander Harmsworth, who would become an automotive enthusiast in his own right. The car was given a cosmetic restoration in 1954 and placed on display in Lord Montagu’s Beaulieu motor museum.
Over the years, Lord Montagu and John Harmsworth would participate in the London-to-Brighton run with the Sixty on several occasions, occasionally allowing the likes of racers such as Jim Clark a stint behind the wheel. The Sixty continued to reside at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum, where it would be exhibited for more than 60 years as it rose in value.
Worth every penny
Technical competence? In his 1994 book Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, George F. Wingard wrote: “How is it possible that a car could be so good and be 90 years old? It can keep up with and surpass modern traffic. It races today with sports and race cars 30 years younger and beats most…. Truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the 60-hp Mercedes gets my vote for being the greatest ‘stock’ car of all time.”
Rarity? Only five 60HP Mercedes still exist. Provenance? This car remained with three generations of the Harmsworth family, over 121 years. History? Gooding & Co.’s catalog claims it is “the only surviving 60HP Mercedes with a documented, in-period competition record.” Even better, the Harmsworth Sixty still has its original chassis, engine and custom coachwork.
Considered the finest motorcar of its day and often regarded as the model that established the racing heritage of the Mercedes marque, the Sixty epitomizes all that’s coveted about early Brass Era cars. Its $12.1m auction sale result was claimed by Gooding & Co. as a new auction world record for a pre-1930 car.
Imagine this remarkable car at the next London-to-Brighton run, blowing past primitive, once-contemporary mounts that resemble so many antique riding mowers. I don’t think we’ve begun to see the height of selective Brass Era car pricing. I also believe that Mercer Raceabouts, Simplex Tourers and Stutz Bearcats have further upward potential. Expensive now, and well sold, but perhaps in a decade, a bargain? ♦
(Introductory description courtesy of Gooding & Company.)
