M02

It arrived at the Berlin Motor Show in October 1926 as the 8/38 PS, one of three sixes Ferdinand Porsche drew in his first months as technical director of the merged Daimler-Benz. The engine was thoroughly conventional: side valves, a single camshaft in the block driven by spur gears, a Zenith flat-stream carburetor, 75 km/h through three speeds. Bodies ran from bare chassis to touring car, saloon, cabriolet and taxi landaulet, and from 1927 the same unit hauled the L 3/4 delivery van, box van and ten-seat bus.

The pricing was botched. The cars were launched far too dear, then cut by 500 to 1,000 Reichsmark, which started a rumor that the model was being dropped and the stock cleared — and early examples were full of teething faults besides. The rows that followed contributed to Porsche’s departure. Hans Nibel took the car in hand for 1928, added an overdrive ratio and raised compression, and sold it as the Stuttgart 200 at 80 km/h; 9,105 of the first version were built and 6,452 of the second, making it the mainstay of the range until 1933.