FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS as a trainee in a German orphanage, Wilhelm Maybach went on to invent the high-speed internal combustion engine and in 1901, as chief engineer and business partner to Gottlieb Daimler, design and build the first Mercedes cars.

Advancing his father's legacy, Karl Maybach would develop the first high-speed diesel engines and in 1920 launch a private line of automobiles which earned an unparalleled, world-wide reputation.