1908 Mercedes-Simplex 35/45HP Recreation

1908 Mercedes-Simplex 35/45HP Recreation

The Mercedes-Simplex 40PS was first unveiled in Nice in 1902. By 1905 the Simplex models were called Type 35PS and 45PS in the sales brochures. With these cars Mercedes laid the foundation of a new type of motor vehicle: with large wide bodies and a low Centre of gravity, together with powerful engines. This marked the beginning of a new class of cars unlike anything else seen at the time. These features established the status of the Simplex cars as favorite’s amongst royalty and the aristocracy. Mercedes remained faithful to this type of car with the 540K, 770K, 300 Adenauer and later the 600.

This car remains a bit of a mystery. A Mercedes-Benz Classic expertise identifies the plate as belonging to a type 45PS, however the chassis and engine numbers correspond to a type 35PS. Metal tests carried out by Mercedes also reveal that the steel used in this car does not conform to the steel used by Mercedes at the time, therefore this is no Mercedes.

However, it is a most beautiful and extremely costly recreation of a Mercedes-Simplex, which looks like the one that won the Dieppe Grand Prix in 1908. Its believe the car was assembled in Argentina using various old car parts to look like a real Simplex. With its great look and nice patina, it seems to have come straight out of a race conducted at full speed on the roads of the beginning of the century.

Descriptions and pictures by artcurial