| In the year 1922 the designer-in-chief Paul Daimler and the board of directors of the DMG were of different opinions. Daimler worked on the development of a new eight-cylinder model whereas the board of directors called for a series-car easy to sell. As a consequence of these quarrels Daimler left the company and took on a position at the automobile producer Horch. His successor at the DMG became Ferdinand Porsche who also was fascinated by the idea of the compressor. Porsche, however, understood that the use of compressor-engines could only be sensible in racing cars and big luxury vehicles.
Apart from new racing car types two representative passenger-car models were developed under Porsche for the time being. These were the types 15/70/100 hp and 24/100/140 hp which were launched in 1924, called type 400 and 630 from 1926 onwards. During their period of construction from 1924 to 1929 both models were available with quite a number of different body-types of the production in Sindelfingen. But numerous units also left the works as chassis and were equipped with the most different chassis-variations by domestic and foreign companies producing chassis.
Regarding their technical concept both models were largely identical. Except for the engine, differences only existed in the wheel-base and the total length as well as in some details in the bodywork.
In 1926 the type-family was complemented by a third variation. the model K, available as two-seated or four-seated sports car. It was fitted with the 6.3-litre engine of the 12/100/140 hp but had a shortened chassis therefore receiving the type-designation "K" - like "kurzer Radstand" ("short wheel-base"). A special feature of the new sophisticated model were three metal hoses on the right-hand side of the bonnet that laid the foundations of a certain tradition and - incorrectly - are often seen as an identification symbol of the Mercedes-Benz compressor vehicles. Since autumn 1927 the normal types 400 and 630, too, were equipped with this impressive design feature. In the following year a more powerful engine was used in the model K, now doing 110 hp without respectively 160 hp with compressor and also available in the type 630 on request. |