happy birth day mercedes benz

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_01.jpg[/img]
Birth of the Modern Automobile
On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his "Motorvagen" a three-wheeled, gasoline-powered car, making it the first of its kind. In the 1888 photo above, Benz sits at the wheel of a type 3, a later iteration of his patent.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_02.jpg[/img]
Slow In, Fast Out
At the same time Benz was working on his machine, another German, Gottlieb Daimler, was constructing the first four-wheeled car. In 1901, shortly after his death, Daimler's company began selling the first model Mercedes automobile, designed by Wilhelm Maybach (Mercedes was the name of the daughter of the board member who supposedly specified the engine). And in 1926, in order to weather the post World-War I German financial crisis, the two auto makers merged to form Daimler-Benz and began marketing Mercedes-Benz cars. In this photo, a driver maneuvers an early Mercedes racer around a rally corner at the Prince Henry Cup in 1908.

[Maximus]

congratulations congratulations congratulations

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_03.jpg[/img]
Reasonably Priced Car
In the late 1920s, the company only offered only four models, all on the upper end of the price spectrum. By the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz had found a market for more affordable cars including the 130 (the model in the photo above is from 1938), which retailed for 3,425 Reichsmarks or approximately $16,000 today. That's about what a KIA forte would cost today.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_04.jpg[/img]
Complicated History
A view of the driver's cockpit of the 3,000 horsepower T80, which was engineered by Ferdinand Porsche and developed to break the land speed record in the late 1930s, a project that was officially sanctioned by Adolf Hitler, an avid Mercedes fan. An active partner of the Nazis, Daimler-Benz was the biggest producer of arms in World War II Germany, creating airplane engines, trucks, tanks, armored vehicles and even part of the V-2 rockets for the Reich war machine. The company even sank so low as to use forced labor, including Jews from concentration camps, to meet wartime production goals.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_05.jpg[/img]
Grand Prix
The company proved successful in the burgeoning world of motorsports as well. For the 1954 French Grand Prix, Argentine Formula 1 racer Juan Manuel Fangio ditched his Maserati in favor of a Mercedes-Benz. He won the race and three of the next five in his new German-made speed machine, earning him the world championship, a feat he repeated the following year, once again behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz. Despite the success, Mercedes left Formula 1 after the 1955 season and returned only in the 1990s as an engine provider. In 1998 Mika Hakkinen would race a Mercedes-powered McLaren to the top spot on the championship podium.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_06.jpg[/img]
Icon of Sport and Style
In 1954, Mercedes unveiled the 300SL, a racing car for the street. The coupe, with doors that open vertically, came to be known as the Gullwing. The car retailed for around $8,500 when it was originally available from 1955 to 1963. Today the cars routinely fetch over $700,000 at auction.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_08.jpg[/img]
Ready for Its Close Up
As their reputation and popularity grew, the Mercedes cars increasingly appeared in popular culture. In the original Oceans Eleven, the car served as a prop for Richard Conte (leaning over the fender) Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford. In the late 1950s, in order to penetrate the US market, Mercedes-Benz partnered with Studebaker-Packard to make the German automobiles available at dealerships across the country. When the American company floundered, many of their dealers continued to sell Mercedes-Benz cars.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_09.jpg[/img]
Star Power
A-list drivers like Clark Gable, Grace Kelly, John Lennon and Brazilian soccer virtuoso Pele, above, helped popularize the brand with consumers during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_10.jpg[/img]
Global Market
Today, the company builds and assembles cars and trucks in more than 20 countries around the world. In this photo, Mercedes-Benz sedans roll off of an assembly line in Venezuela in 1976.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_11.jpg[/img]
Status Symbol
Customized Mercedes-Benz cars are displayed at Tokyo Auto Salon 2010. The brand has come to signify wealth and luxury... especially when it's "Bedazzled."

[chotu gadu]

Many happy returns of the day to BENZ...

[TomandJerry]

*=: *=: *=: *=: *=: *=: *=: *=:

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_12.jpg[/img]
Hard Worker
The German carmaker has a reputation for making cars that last (like this workhorse co-opted to carry corn in rural Albania). In 1981, a Greek taxi driver bought a second-hand 1976 240 Diesel with around 136,000 on it. In 2004, he retired the car and gave it to the Mercedes-Benz Museum with more than 2.8 million miles on the odometer.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/mercedes_benz/mercedes_benz_13.jpg[/img]
Big Business
In 2010, the company sold over 225,000 cars in the U.S. and over 1 million world-wide.