1907 Merciless

[Guest mdsalemi]

Anybody have any information regarding a "1907 Merciless"?

Best I can find, which might indeed be everything, is that the Huntington [NY] Automobile Company was supposed to build a copy/replica of the Mercedes at that time. What I have found is that the company was a machine shop/repair shop; also had a Ford franchise, but didn't last beyond 1909. Millionaire industrialist August Heckscher partially bankrolled the firm, and at least one manager had worked at the Daimler plant in NY prior to it burning down in February 1907.

No indication any cars were ever made, but 1907 Merciless shows up in several lists of domestic cars with Huntington Automobile Company as the manufacturer.

Information is for an article I'm writing. Thank you in advance.

Michael Salemi - Michigan USA

[Rusty_OToole]

It sounds like a gag to me. Can you verify this info from independent, contemporary sources?

There were quite a number of European luxury cars in the Pre WW1 era, that were built under license in the USA usually in New York City. I think Mercedes may have been one of them but not under the name Merciless.

[keiser31]

A "complete" car list I have shows Huntington, but not Merciless.

[Rusty_OToole]

There was an American made Mercedes, this from a Mercedes press release:

This was far from being the case 100 years ago: At that time, motorization was still very much in its infancy. Europe was ahead by quite some distance and led the way in terms of technology. Thus it’s no surprise that old-world automobiles were highly coveted in America but were expensive due to shipping costs and customs duties. The answer provided by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a car produced in New York, the “American Mercedes”, which was basically a reproduction of the 45 hp Mercedes. It first appeared at the National Automobile Show in New York in January 1905. The first vehicle was delivered in 1906, at a price of 7,500 dollars. What reads so easily in retrospect has a long history behind it.

Gottlieb Daimler was a man of vision. Not only was he driven by his idea of motorization “on land, on sea and in the air” with his invention of the internal combustion engine. He also knew that it stood a chance in all countries of the world and was looking far beyond the borders of the German Reich from very early on. The focus was on the USA. As early as 1876, the exceptionally gifted designer and Daimler confidant Wilhelm Maybach had got to know William Steinway whose New York-based company produced keyboard instruments in the tradition of his German ancestors. During a stay in Germany in 1888, Steinway also made the acquaintance of Gottlieb Daimler. Their conversations would always revolve around one thing: licensed production of Daimler engines in America. After Steinway’s return to America, the plans quickly materialized. On September 29, 1888, Daimler Motor Co. headquartered in Long Island, New York, was founded. Production on behalf of Daimler Motor Company was taken over by National Machine Company in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1891, and it was this company which engaged in license production of America’s first operational vehicle engine based on Gottlieb Daimler’s original design drawings. The company also manufactured gas and petroleum engines for stationary and marine applications. These early years were not easy but from 1895, orders began to arrive in ever-increasing numbers. The two entrepreneurs started considering production of automobiles in America at an early stage. Daimler was, after all, keen on developing new markets for his vehicles, and Steinway believed a bright future lay ahead for the automobile.

In a newspaper interview in 1895, William Steinway outlined his ideas of motorizing America:

“The cars which we intend to produce for the American market will be capable of carrying between two and four people and will be driven by engines with between 2.5 and 3.5 hp. Each car will have four different speed ranges: 3.5, 6, 9 and 14 miles per hour. 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. We will therefore create a model that will be adapted to conditions in America.”

This sounded like a very concrete plan being in existence and indeed, car production was started in a factory of Daimler Motor Company on Long Island in 1895. But Steinway died in November 1896. His heirs were not as convinced as he was that they could make money by selling motor vehicles. They sold off their shares in Daimler Motor Co. to General Electric Company; from 1898 and after a restructuring, the production facility was called Daimler Manufacturing Company.

Gottlieb Daimler died on March 6, 1900. Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft stood proudly in his tradition – the company was still very keen on manufacture in America. And finally, the Mercedes brand, created in 1900, was able to establish itself in the American market with its ultra-modern and reliable designs. However, high shipping costs and customs duties of 45 percent were an obstacle for imports on a substantial scale – it was clear that local production would give the vehicles a more competitive edge. And finally, in early January 1905, the “American Mercedes”, manufactured by Daimler Manufacturing Company, was presented at the National Automobile Show in New York. It had been derived from the 45 hp Mercedes and had a four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 6.8 liters, a four-speed transmission and a top speed of around 80 km/h. An early American advertising had this to say: “If you want the best, of course you want a foreign car. If you import, of course you import the Mercedes – the finest car in the world. The American Mercedes is an exact duplicate of the 1905 Mercedes of 40-45 H.P. No detail is omitted.”

In the same month of the car’s launch, on January 25, 1905 and thus exactly 100 years ago, American H. L. Bowden established a world record over one mile with a flying start. Driving a Mercedes with two 60 hp engines in Daytona Beach, Florida/USA, he reached an average speed of 176.5 km/h. This signaled the breakthrough for the brand. American customers’ attention had finally been drawn to cars from Germany, and the more favorably priced local reproductions were very much welcomed. In 1906, at last, the first American Mercedes was handed over to its buyer. Strangely enough, the standard color was red. A newspaper advertisement aroused the buyers’ interest: “The American Mercedes is the car for speed, power and noiseless running. It is the acme of reliability.” These values are to this day embodied by every Mercedes-Benz the world over.

The total number of cars produced is unknown. In mid-February 1907, fire ravaged the plant, destroying eight completed cars and 40 in the process of construction. Production was never resumed. "

I also have an idea that there was a connection between the Mercedes-Simplex and the New York made Simplex or Crane Simplex car but this may be just because of the similar names.

[john2dameron]

Michael, information I have states that "Merciless" was built at Huntington (on Long Island), New York, 1906-1907. It was designed to be as close to a legal copy of the Mercedes as they could get by with; the name was also a take-off on Mercedes. The cars were on 127" wheelbases with 70 hp six-cylinder engines. Supposedly several were built before the company went into receivership in December of 1907. If you wish to know the source of my information, send me a private message.

[Restorer32]

Is the source of you info secret?

[Guest mdsalemi]

It sounds like a gag to me. Can you verify this info from independent, contemporary sources?

There were quite a number of European luxury cars in the Pre WW1 era, that were built under license in the USA usually in New York City. I think Mercedes may have been one of them but not under the name Merciless.

Rusty, (and others)

Thanks for the reply. If you search various places you will find "1907 Merciless, Huntington Automobile Company" in the listing. Here's one:

http://members.chello.nl/j.baartse/cars/Cars_H.html

In some other listings, I believe it is erroneously listed as Huntington, IL, such as this one:

Automobile Manufacturers Starting With The Letter M

I am a journalist and there are no secrets with me on this topic. I scoured Long Island Newspapers from the era (thankfully, the era is short and the newspapers and advertisements all categorized and digitized by the Suffolk County Library System) and by reviewing the advertisements and short news items about the Huntington Automobile Company, concluded that they were once simply a machine shop; that they announced they were making cars; the Ford franchise, and finally, quite a few news articles (generally only a sentence or two) regarding the bankruptcy. Some names are mentioned too, various managers and financiers. None of these newspaper articles mentions Merciless the car, just the company. Beyond the announcement that they were going to manufacture cars, nothing ever was written that they actually did--at least in the local newspapers. You would have thought that a local machine shop turned auto manufacturer would have made some kind of "big deal" out of a car being manufactured. Could not find a thing. What is curious is the things they did choose as newsworthy--such as one of the managers taking a vacation...!

As to the connection between this Merciless and the [American] Mercedes, that came in a rather lengthy article written in 1987 by none other than [the late] Beverly Rae Kimes, arguably one of the most respected automotive researchers and journalists. I have that article and quite a few others as part of my research on the American Mercedes.

The sources of my information are the article by Ms. Kimes from 1987, and another article on the American Mercedes from 1959. Both of those articles are rather extensive and the product of enormous research, and were published in The Star Magazine, the magazine of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America. I have other articles published in other places, some information from the Daimler Archives, and some information that is in some extensive works from older books on the Steinway [piano] dynasty. Together, I have a rather complete if not extensive history of the American Mercedes saga, both leading up to, and past manufacture.

Since that car was basically a copy as Rusty noted, it [to me at least] isn't nearly as interesting as the fascinating history leading up to it, and the fallout after. The Merciless and the Huntington Automobile Company are part of the fallout. I doubt that Ms. Kimes made it up; now I'm trying to track it down.

I will contact john2dameron off line. Thank you and if anyone has any more information, I'd appreciate it.

Michael Salemi

Edited September 17, 2010 by mdsalemi (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

You seem to have done your research. Apparently the American Mercedes connection was established in the 1890s with Steinway and continued until the factory fire in early 1907.

Have you found a connection between them and the Huntingdon machine shop? The Steinway interests would certainly have put a stop to any independent effort to copy their cars under the name "Merciless".

At first I thought it might have been a stillborn effort to revive the manufacture of Mercedes cars after the fire but the Huntingdon plant seems to have started before the Steinway fire and gone out of business a few months after the fire.

So, unless the Huntindon machine shop was a subsidiary or sub contractor I'm still puzzled.

In any case it doesn't seem they made any cars. If they issued a press release about the manager's vacation they would certainly have mentioned their first successful car.

[Guest mdsalemi]

I have found no connection between Steinway and the machine shop.

Steinway the company and man (William) were actually long gone by the time even the American Mercedes was made; William Steinway was dead in 1896; Daimler in 1900 and the first car was 1906. Steinway family sold their stock to General Electric.

I think you are right about the stillborn interest. It looks like a former employee of the ill fated factory went to Huntington. The only mention of Merciless is in probably often repeated lists of American manufacturers, and the article by Kimes.

By the time the actual manufacture of the American Mercedes happened, aside from GE other investors read like a who's who of NY Money at the time.

August Heckscher was definitely an investor in the Huntington venture, but again no evidence of cars or actual car manufacture. He too was NY money.

It is possible I've found all there is but need to check everywhere...

[john2dameron]

Michael, Beverly Rae Kimes and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. edited the original edition of the book, "Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942 so the information in it is probably a repeat of what you have already found.