50th birthday of the automobile

To mark the 50th birthday of the automobile, Daimler-Benz fitted out a hall of fame at the fair with the world’s first car, the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Wagon of 1885, and the Mercedes-Benz world record breaking racing car of 1934. Other exhibits included three large Mercedes-Benz diesel engines and further “masterpieces of design and workmanship by Daimler-Benz A.G.”, as the circular to the sales outlets described them. The Mercedes-Benz pavilion also had a historical theme: in addition to new products, 40 years of motor racing were presented with the company’s winning vehicles from 1894 to 1934.

This proud review of the past was clearly good for the company’s image: “Press reports from Germany and abroad are already confirming that in keeping with its traditions, Mercedes-Benz continues to dictate the pace in international automobile engineering”, the Board of Management wrote to the sales organization at home and abroad shortly after the fair.

The IAA in 1936 was extended from ten to 16 days to cope with the large crowds expected in the light of the previous year’s event. Once again the focus was on the mass motorization demanded by the government, as well as on national pride at being the inventors of the automobile. Accordingly there was another hall of fame to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Benz patent. Coinciding with the IAA the two inventors of the automobile, Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, were each honored with the issue of a postage stamp by the German Post Office.

In 1938 the IAA was opened in Berlin under the motto “Five years of motorization“. In his opening address Adolf Hitler himself claimed to have solved the nation’s economic problems with motorization, and Information Minister Goebbels had the figures to demonstrate it: while there had been one motor vehicle for every 40 Germans in 1933, there was now one for every 24. In addition, exports now accounted for more than the entire production level for 1932. “The story of the Berlin exhibition since National Socialism came to power has been an uninterrupted triumph”, the regime was praised in a newspaper article. "A victory of ideas over harsh reality and the confinement from which this event suffered in the past.“ 739,000 visitors were attracted to the 28th IAA, around 39,000 more than in the previous year.