When you see the Mercedes‑Maybach crests on a 2027 S580 or a GLS680 announced for 2027, you think luxury. Big sedans, massive SUVs, built for the wealthiest customers. It’s hard, amid this shine, to picture the modest origins of the Maybach name. And yet, it all began with a wooden frame perched on two large wheels.
Long before the name appeared on Mercedes‑Maybach, Wilhelm Maybach’s story was tied to an experimental two‑wheeler. In 1885, with his partner Gottlieb Daimler, he assembled a machine called the Reitwagen. The name literally translates to “riding car” and describes this very basic wooden chassis. In it they installed a small single‑cylinder gasoline engine that powered the machine. The speed reached about 7.5 mph, roughly 12 km/h, aided by small side rollers reminiscent of stabilizers. A crude prototype, but it opened the door to using a combustion engine on the road.
Wilhelm Maybach, from an orphanage to the first gasoline‑powered motorcycle
Wilhelm Maybach was born in 1846 in Heilbronn, Germany. He lost both parents before turning ten and was placed in an orphanage. There, he learned industrial drawing and mechanics, then joined a local machine shop. One day, an engineer came to inspect the shop: Gottlieb Daimler. Despite a dozen years his senior, the two men began a collaboration that would last until Daimler’s death in 1900.
Very quickly, Maybach became Daimler’s technical right hand. They first worked at Deutz, then continued their research in a workshop set up at Daimler’s premises. By the mid‑1880s, the duo developed a small vertical single‑cylinder engine, light and compact. This engine ran much faster than the heavy stationary engines of the era and remained relatively powerful. Because of its tall, narrow shape, it earned the nickname “grandfather clock,” akin to a parquet clock. This block would become the backbone of almost all Maybach and Daimler experiments, on two wheels or four.
The Reitwagen of 1885, a quirky two‑wheeler ahead of its time
In 1885, Maybach and Daimler decided to mount this “grandfather clock” engine in as simple a frame as possible. They built a wooden chassis and attached two large iron‑rimmed wheels. Small side rollers completed the setup, described at the time as “jockey wheels.” They resembled the rollers found on an early child’s bicycle. The 264 cc single‑cylinder engine produced about 0.5 horsepower at 600 rpm. The Reitwagen could push its way to just over 7.5 mph (around 12 km/h). The first tests took place on the roads around Cannstatt, near Stuttgart.
For many historians, this Reitwagen is simply the world’s first gasoline‑powered motorcycle. The machine remained crude, uncomfortable, and without a modern handlebars. Yet it did run on an internal‑combustion engine, whereas other experiments of the era still relied on steam. According to Mercedes‑Benz, cited by Jalopnik, it’s described as the “first functional road vehicle with a combustion engine.” In other words, the first roadworthy vehicle powered by a combustion engine. This claim sits alongside ongoing debates about what precisely counts as a motorcycle, with some noting earlier steam two‑wheelers as ancestors. Regardless, this wooden, motorized oddity underscored Maybach’s central role in engineering from the very start.
From the Reitwagen to the Mercedes 35 PS and the Mercedes‑Maybach badge
The years that followed showed how tightly the Daimler–Maybach partnership remained complementary. They reveal how the Maybach name often faded behind Daimler’s name in the headlines and patents. In practice, Maybach shouldered the concrete engineering challenges while Daimler filed the patents and carried much of the public face of the ideas. The first two‑cylinder V‑engine illustrates this division of labor. That engine would later figure into the history of Harley‑Davidson’s famous V‑twin. Mercedes‑Benz attributes the patent to Daimler in 1889, though other sources share the credit or argue that Maybach designed the engine.
They tested their engines on boats, then on a horse‑drawn carriage. They also designed a dedicated four‑wheel chassis—the Stahlradwagen. This vehicle is sometimes presented as the first four‑wheeled car built around a brand new chassis surrounding its engine.
At the turn of the century, Wilhelm Maybach was working for Daimler‑Motoren‑Gesellschaft. He invented the honeycomb radiator, which improved engine cooling. It was there that, at the request of Emil Jellinek, he fashioned a faster and safer car for a wealthy clientele. This model, the Mercedes 35 PS of 1900, is frequently described as the first modern automobile. Its chassis was engineered specifically to fit the engine, with an architecture that foreshadowed today’s cars. Jellinek named the car after his daughter, Mercédès, giving birth to the Mercedes name. Much later, the brand revived the Mercedes‑Maybach designation for its ultra‑luxury sedans. It quietly completes a loop started in 1885 with a simple wooden two‑wheeler.
