The Maybach Zeppelin was the

Maybach Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of ''Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', and ...

company's '' Repräsentationswagen'' model from 1929 to 1939. Named for the company's famous production of

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

engines prior to and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it was an enormous luxury vehicle which weighed approximately 3000 kg (6600 lb). This weight was so great that German drivers required an additional goods vehicle licence for vehicles over 2½ tons. Along with the

Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :*Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin *Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocolat ...

, and behind the Daimler Double Six, this was Europe's joint second luxury V12 car in production.

DS7

The DS7 (''Doppel Sechs 7'') version featured a 7.0 L (6,971 cc)

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The f ...

that produced at 2,800 rpm. It was available from 1929 to 1930. Work began in 1928 on a model simply called the "Maybach 12" which went on sale in 1929. In 1930 it was re-branded as the DS7 and the "Zeppelin" badge appeared on a bar between the headlamps; although adopted universally as the "Maybach Zeppelin", this was never the car's official model.

Karl Maybach Maybach (, ) is a German luxury car brand that exists today as a part of Mercedes-Benz. The original company was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach, originally as a subsidiary of '' Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH'', an ...

's engine was a long-stroke design, with dimensions of 86×100 mm. The crankshaft had eight main bearings, one being a smaller outrigger at the rear, supporting the camshaft drive gears. In a novel feature for reduced noise, these were made of

Novotext Novotext is a trade name for cotton textile-phenolic resin, essentially cotton-reinforced Bakelite. It was often used in car engines for gear wheels used to provide a direct drive to the camshaft as it is flexible and quiet-running. One of the ...

, a resin-impregnated fibre composite. A further novel feature was the use of enlarged four-bolt main bearing caps on three of the bearings.

DS8

Supplementing the DS7 from 1930 was the DS8 (''Doppelganger''). It sported an 8.0 L (7977 cc, 486 cubic inches) V12 which made at a fairly low 3200 rpm, putting the DS8 among the most powerful production cars in the world at the time. Depending on the weight of the

coachwork A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

, a top speed of was possible. In August 2012, a 1938 DS8 Roadster sold for €1.3 million at auction, fitted with a rare Variorex eight-speed gearbox (both the first 8-speed and first 8-speed manual gearbox) with a vacuum shift and is thought to be one of only 100 built.

Revival

When

was revived as a brand by

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

, old

s, particularly the opulent 8-litre Zeppelin, saw new popularity as part of a marketing effort which sought to link the current brand with the heritage of the original car company. This resurrecting of the classic name resulted in increased visibility and popularity of well-restored or preserved Maybachs.

Gallery

File:B 11b.jpg File:Maybach Zeppelin red vr.jpg File:Maybach z01.jpg File:MaybachZeppelinDS8.JPG

References

{{Maybach

Full-size vehicles Luxury vehicles Flagship vehicles Sedans Convertibles Cars introduced in 1928 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles