Long before they were united in hyphenated bliss in 1926, Daimler and Benz had become two of the greatest names in motordom.

The roots of both companies extended back into the 19th century; their founders were present at the very beginnings of the automobile.

Gottlieb Daimler ( 1834-1900 ) was a pioneering inventor and manufacturer of internal-combustion engines and the vehicles they powered.

Daimler and his partner Wilhelm Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) at Stuttgart in 1890.

After Daimler’s death, Maybach developed a powerful (for the time) 35hp engine to be used in 36 special cars ordered by Emil Jellinek, a Daimler car distributor and DMG director.

Jellinek had stipulated that the new Daimler model, due out in 1902, be named after his young daughter—Mercedes.

Karl Benz ( 1844-1929 ) founded Benz & Cie.

in Mannheim, Germany and filed the earliest patent for a gasoline engine, in 1879.

His 1885 Motorwagen , patented in 1886, is credited with being the first...