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Car legends

1903. The year of the Parsifal. The new Parsifal was the first Benz with a vertical two-cylinder engine. The company's top-of-the-line model at that time, it was also the first Benz with modern propeller shaft drive. The Parsifal was priced at between 6,500 und 15,000 Marks, depending on which engine and body were specified.

1905 - 1907. The Herkomer Trophy. The Herkomer Trophy was designed to test the reliability of ordinary production cars. For that reason, only standard touring cars were allowed to take part. In the 1906 Herkomer Trophy, a 40 hp Benz took second place and a further 10 Benz vehicles taking part were also awarded prizes. Benz & Cie.'s luck held out for the third and last Herkomer Rally too. This event was won by designer Fritz Erle, at the wheel of a 50 hp Benz car.

1909. A giant-engined Benz The Blitzen-Benz, or "lightning Benz", was developed in Mannheim. Its giant engine had a total volume of 21.5 litres, making it the largest car engine ever built by either Benz or Daimler.

1911. The "Lightning Benz" The Blitzen-Benz ("Lightning Benz") set a string of records, for example at Daytona Beach, Florida, and quickly became a legend. Its new world speed record of 228.1 km/h made it twice as fast as the fastest aircraft of the time. It was 13 years before this record was beaten by another car.

1923. The "Drop-Shaped Car" by Benz und Cie. The Benz Drop-Shaped Car of 1923 was unusual in its basic layout and can be regarded as the first mid-engine racing car in the world. Its inspiration was the legendary Rumpler streamlined car. The aerodynamically styled drop-shaped Benz was a forerunner of the windtunnel-honed bodies of today. The drop-shaped car's greatest moment was in the Monza European Grand Prix.

1924. Benz and Daimler set the pace. This year supercharged carried all before them on the racing circuits. Daimler and Benz cars won 269 races, 93 of these with the 1.5 and 2 litre supercharged models. The deteriorating economic situation of 1923/24 led to Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. forming an "assocation of common interest" in May 1924. At the same time, the two companies also co-ordinated their production activities and two years later merged.