From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
The First Mercedes: The first Mercedes came about as the result of a 6hp Daimler racing car sold to Emile Jellinek, a native of Leipzig, who had made his initial fortune as an importer of tropical fruit. A self-made man, Jellinek, continued to prosper and became Consul-General of Austro-Hungry as well as being a director of the Credit Lyonnais. Jellinik then lived in Nice and counted amongst his friends the Baron de Rothschild and W K Vanderbilt, two of the richest men in the world. He became intrigued by the increasingly common motor cars then coming into fashion and decided that this was were he would concentrate his future labours.
In the spring of 1897 he paid a visit to Cannstatt and on his suggestion, Paul Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach designed a 6hp racing car in the hope that this car would halt the seemingly unstoppable run of success in motoring competition by the products of the then dominant French motor industry. The resulting car was, not to put a tooth in it, a bit of a pig. It's very short wheelbase and high centre of gravity made it very difficult to handle and at the La Turbie hill-climb in March 1900, Bauer, driving a factory entry, crashed and was killed.Jellinek himself - under the assumed name of 'Mercedes' - drove one of the cars in the Paris to Marseilles race a few days later. The experience convinced him that something drastic would have to be done if success, not to mention safety, were to be achieved.
Once again, Jellinek journeyed to Cannstatt to meet Maybach and Daimler. This time he gave them the outline specifications of the type of car he wanted. Maybach, in particular, was very impressed with what Jellinek had proposed and set to work without delay. The result was a car, the like of which the world had never seen before, and which overnight caused every car in existence to become five years out of date. Jellinek was delighted with the result and undertook to take 36 of them at a cost of 550,000 marks. In return, he was awarded the sole agency for France, Belgium, America and Austro-Hungry. Jellinek suggested that the car should be called 'Mercedes' after his beloved daughter, as there was considerable prejudice in France against any car with a German name.
Around the same time a Paris bicycle maker by the name of Charley Lehmann arrived at the Cannstat factory to purchase some old models.
While there he spotted the new Mercedes and was put in touch with Jellinek. As a result an agreement was made that all Mercedes cars sold in France would go through Charley Lehmann. Within a short time he had acquired luxurious premises in the Champs-Elysees and before the end of a year both he and Jellinek had each amassed a fortune out of the sale of Mercedes cars. Shortly afterwards, he changed his name to 'Charley' leaving out the German-sounding name of Lehamnn, thereafter being always known as 'Monsieur Charley'.
In the prestigious Nice speed week of 1901 the Mercedes won everything it was possible for them to win and captured the imagination of the motoring world. The rest is motoring history but sad to say, the one unhappy aspect of this success story concerned Jellinek's daughter Mercedes, who gave her name to the marque. Her life was filled with unhappiness and she died, at the early age of 39, in February 1929, in a small flat in Vienna.