Engine No. 25155
Estimate:
€100.000-€120.000
AUCTION DATE:
To be auctioned on
Sunday, August 12, 2012
OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE
This lot will be sold with the following documents: Bill of Sale
August Maybach was the technical director of Gottlieb Daimlers company until 1907, after which, he and his son Karl designed a six-cylinder car that they hoped to market to Opel. In the summer of 1908, however, Maybach wrote to his friend Count Zeppelin, proposing to make engines for airships. Zeppelin set the Maybachs up as engine manufacturers, a prosperous enterprise until the Treaty of Versailles forbade German aero production. As a result, Maybach automobiles ensued. The W3, launched in 1921, was one of Germanys most expensive automobiles, more costly than a Mercedes 28/95, which limited its production to some 700 in six years.
Karl Maybach became obsessed with multi-speed gearboxes, beginning with a schnellgang (fast speed) overdrive. Over time, this developed further to a combination sliding-gear box coupled with a separate overdrive. The effort culminated in the doppelschnellgang unit, with integral overdrive giving eight speeds forward and vacuum-assisted shifting. The ultimate development was the DS8 Zeppelin, with a 7,978 cc V-12 engine and the doppelschnellgang gearbox, also called the “Variorex”. Built from 1932 until World War II, the DS8 numbered only 25 a year through 1937, and another 25 thereafter, through 1940.
One of a very few survivors of the DS8 Zeppelin Maybach, this car has the rare Variorex vacuum-change gearbox, reportedly one of about 100 manufactured. When acquired, it was almost devoid of body, as a period photograph shows. It was reconstructed with a reproduction roadster body in the sporting idiom, generally following the lines of original Erdman & Rossi bodies. Nevertheless, the elegant presence of this Maybach makes it very attractive to driving enthusiasts.
