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Driving the Maybach DSH - the speedometer needle shakes at 137 km/h

Name: Maybach DSH 1935
Brand: Maybach

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Created on June 1, 1975

Text:

Michael Graf Wolff Metternich

Photos:

MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH / Daimler AG

Maybach DSH (1934) - Limousine with removable roof over the driver's area, bodywork by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach DSH (1934) - with four-door Pullman limousine body

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Maybach DSH (1934) - Coupé-Chauffeur, coachbuilder Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach DSH (1934) - Pullman-Limouisne, coachbuilder Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach DSH (1934) - dashboard lavishly equipped with instruments

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Maybach DSH (1934) - the in-line six-cylinder

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Maybach DSH (1934) - four-door convertible, bodywork by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach DSH (1934) - two-seater sports convertible, coachbuilt by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach DSH (1936) - four-door convertible, probably fitted by Erdmann & Rossi

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Maybach DSH (1936) - rear view of the cabriolet version, which was probably fitted by Erdmann & Rossi Berlin

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Maybach DSH (1934) - on the stand at the International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition in Berlin, together with the Zeppelin and W6 DSG models

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Maybach W 6 DSG (1934) - seven-seater Pullman limousine with double high-speed gearbox, coachbuilder Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach W 6 DSG (1934) - four-door convertible, coachbuilt by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach W 6 DSG (1934) - two-seater and two-door sports cabriolet with double high-speed gearbox, bodywork presumably by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Maybach W 6 (1931) - Chassis of the predecessor of the DSH without bodywork

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Maybach W 6 (1931) - two-door convertible

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Maybach W 6 (1933) - four-door convertible, bodywork by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg

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Summary

Weighing over three tons and with "only" six cylinders in a row, this is how the Maybach DSH presented itself in the 1930s. An extremely imposing saloon, but one that demanded a great deal of sensitivity from the driver, as this review of a drive impressively shows. This report characterizes the entry-level Maybach of the 1930s and explains how it drives, supplemented by many archive photos.

This article contains the following chapters

Reliable starter
The necessary distance between chauffeur and passengers
With the "small" six-cylinder
Huge and heavy limousine
Without rev counter
Over 100 km/h
A lot of attention required
The advanced gearbox
Millimeter work
The Maybach six-cylinder

Estimated reading time: 11min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Weighing 3124 kilograms, spread over a length of more than six meters and a height of two meters, resting on four huge 7.50 x 20 tires, maneuvering at crawling speed without power steering is hard work. Getting this colossus out of the corner of the vehicle hall and into the daylight without bumping into anything takes a lot of effort. But the effort is worth it. Although the Maybach DSH, built in 1935, has not been moved for over a year, it only needs three large buckets of water for the radiator, which has been drained as a precaution, and two freshly charged 6-volt batteries. Once started, it is immediately loud and audible, blowing black clouds of smoke out of its enormous exhaust tailpipe. However, it soon blows itself free.

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