The Daimler Manufacturing Company (DMFG), was a boutique

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

automaker The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % suc ...

company from 1898 to 1907. From 1888 to 1898, the company was known as the Daimler Motor Company (DMC), formed under a partnership between

Gottlieb Daimler Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf ( Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. He w ...

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (abbreviated as DMG, also known as ''Daimler Motors Corporation'') was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900) and ...

(DMG; predecessor to

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

) and William Steinway of piano manufacturer

Steinway & Sons Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

. Headquartered in

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

near Steinway's Astoria headquarters, the company sold Daimler motors for yachts and launches, and goods vehicles including buses and trucks. It built and sold a single automobile model, the original American Mercedes.

History

In 1885,

and business partner

Wilhelm Maybach Wilhelm Maybach (; 9 February 1846 – 29 December 1929) was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of Designers". From the late 19th ce ...

developed one of the first gasoline-powered engines, known as "the grandfather clock engine". At some point in 1888, Daimler met piano maker William Steinway, son of

founder

Henry E. Steinway Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, anglicized name Henry Engelhard Steinway, (February 22, 1797 – February 7, 1871)B ...

and a former associate of Maybach. Some sources state that Daimler visited New York as a member of a male voice choir and by chance met William Steinway. Most others state that Steinway met Daimler on a visit to Germany. Nonetheless, as a result of the meeting the two businessmen founded ''Daimler Motor Company'' in

, New York near Steinway's headquarters in Astoria, opening on September 29, 1888.Lord Montagu and David Burgess-Wise ''Daimler Century'' ; Stephens 1995 The company was officially incorporated on January 26, 1889. The company initially sold imported Cannstatt engines built in Germany. In 1891, DMC contracted ''National Machine Company'' of

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, to build engines to Daimler specifications. ''USA-Daimler'' started making their own automobile and stationary engines in 1895 followed a decade later under new ownership by perhaps one complete automobile. Steinway confidently explained in an 1895 interview: ''"The fuel, petroleum, costs about one cent per hp and hour, making the automobile considerably less expensive than horse power. We already had a horseless vehicle here in 1893 but it was too lightly built for the rough cobblestone streets we have in this country”''.

Change of ownership

Following Steinway's early death in 1896, his heirs weren't confident in the viability of the automobile project, and sold all their shares to the ''

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

'' in 1898. On August 2, 1898, the company was reorganized as ''Daimler Manufacturing Company'' (DMFG), with

(DMG) the primary owner. The new company produced light trucks and buses under Daimler and

Panhard et Levassor Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed b ...

(another Daimler-contracted company) specifications. It also imported vehicles built in Europe by Daimler, Mercedes, and Panhard. In 1904, the company discontinued its boat building operations in order to focus on automobiles. That year DMFG constructed its first car, called the "American Mercedes". The car was based on the European ''Mercedes 40-45 hp'', featuring a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h), a 4-cylinder engine of 6.8 liters displacement and four-speed transmission. On January 17, 1905, the locally constructed car was shown at the

New York International Auto Show The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show that is held in Manhattan in late March or early April. It is held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weekend and closes on the first S ...

. In the same month H. L. Bowden, Boston based owner of a steam yacht, established a speed record of 110 mph (175 km/h) average over a mile with flying start, in a car with a double ''Mercedes 60 hp'' engine at

Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

.Steinway & Sons – Owners' Magazine, 2009, p. 95. The brand stood out in the automobile market with ''Mercedes'' advertising stating: ''"If you want the best, of course you want a foreign car... Mercedes is the car for speed, power and noiseless running. It is the acme of reliability.”'' The first DMFG unit was sold in 1906, painted red.

Decline

On February 14, 1907, the DMFG factory was destroyed in a fire. The fire destroyed eight completed ''Mercedes'', plus 40 others under construction, as well as drawings and machinery. One of these vehicles belonged to

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

co-founder William Rockefeller. The fire also destroyed several nearby residences, rendering 100 local residents homeless. The rapid spread of the fire was attributed to the wooden construction of the Daimler facilities and much of the Steinway/Astoria neighborhood. Initially planning to rebuild, the company did not reconstruct the factory due to the financial

panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% fro ...

and the emergence of the

American automotive industry The automotive industry in the United States began in the 1890s and, as a result of the size of the domestic market and the use of mass production, rapidly evolved into the largest in the world. The United States was the first country in the w ...

. The company folded in 1913.

Factory

The company was located at 939 to 967 Steinway Avenue, on the south side of 20th Avenue between

Steinway Street Steinway Street is a major street in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, in the United States. Steinway Street is a 2.4 mile two-way street that runs north-south between Berrian Boulevard in Astoria and Northern Boulevard in Lon ...

(then-Steinway Avenue) to the east and 38th Street (Kouwenhoven Street) to the west in

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

section of

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeas ...

. The factory was located across from the trolley depot of the Steinway Street Line trolley line operated by the Steinway Railway. It was just south of Steinway & Sons' main piano factory and the Steinway Mansion, both located at the north end of Astoria along Bowery Bay. The site consisted of several one-to-three buildings, all constructed of wood. The original building on the site measured 25 by 100 feet. A larger factory was constructed in 1895 when the company began building its own motors, and was expanded in 1899 to facilitate the construction of carriage and automobile bodies. This wooden-frame building occupied a 100 by 150 foot area of space facing Steinway Street, and stood two stories high, with a brick exterior and basement. Buildings on the west end of the block facing 38th Street were used for the storage of completed or partially completed vehicles. A second facility, the "Daimler Motor Company Boat Houses", was located at the north end of 36th Street (then-Blackwell Street) along the Bowery Bay coast.

References

{{reflist

External links

Steinway History Timeline

"The American Mercedes" Brochure, 1906

Drawings of the Daimler Motor Company factory and boat houses
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, 1896 Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Queens, New York Steinway & Sons Motor vehicle manufacturers based in New York (state) Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York City