1939 | Maybach SW 42

• Bodywork by Hermann Spohn, Ravensburg – Standard Pullman saloon, 4-door, 6 windows, 6/7 seats, long wheelbase
• Original colour scheme in dark blue with interior in dark red
• Delivered to the Spanish embassy in Berlin
• Extensively restored and technology overhauled in the 1990s
• In third and recent ownership in the Netherlands for over 70 years !
• Engine “matching numbers”
• The Maybach SW series was a milestone in automotive engineering thanks to its innovative chassis as a so-called “swing-axle vehicle”

This Maybach SW 42 was built in 1939/1940. The body was made by the renowned coachbuilder Hermann Spohn in Ravensburg, who manufactured numerous customised as well as ‘conventional’ bodies for Maybach at the time. This is a representative ‘standard Pullman saloon’ with a long wheelbase. It has four doors and six or seven seats in three rows, with two seats in the rear compartment being foldable. The rear seats for the stately passengers are more like a luxurious sofa. As was common in the pre-war era, the chauffeur sat in the front on a leather-covered bench seat, while the rear seats were upholstered in cosy and high-quality fabric for the passengers. This Maybach SW 42 was first delivered in Germany to the Spanish embassy in Berlin. Immediately after the war around 1946 the vehicle came to its second owner in Den Haag in the Netherlands. From there, the motor car changed hands to the father of the current owner in 1952/53. It has therefore been in the family for more than 70 years and is still in third ownership. This long time is an almost unique story! At the beginning of the 1990s, an extensive restoration of the motor car began, which took around ten years at a well-known restoration workshop in the Netherlands. The body, interior, chassis and technology, including the engine and gearbox, were extensively restored and overhauled. In the course of this, the car received a new paint in dark blue and the interior was given a new upholstery in dark red – leather in the front and high-quality fabric in the rear. This colour scheme corresponds to the original delivery. The engine is also the original unit from the delivery.

In the early 1930s Karl Maybach, son of the founder of the engine and luxury car manufacturer of the same name, faced a challenge: the legendary flagship in the top luxury class, the ‘Zeppelin’, with Germany's only 12-cylinder engine, sold only moderately due to the recession. In order to achieve respectable sales figures, more affordable models with an in-line six-cylinder engine (the W6, W6SG and W6DSG) continued to be produced. The engine was based on the previous ‘W5’ combined with the innovative high-speed or double high-speed gearbox. However, the chassis was that of the large ‘Zeppelin’ and the W6 was supplied with its bodywork versions and features. Its successor, the Maybach SW 35 (SW = swing-axle car, 35 = 3.5 litre displacement) made its debut in 1935 – a new construction that was very modern and somewhat smaller (in relation to the mighty Zeppelin). Nevertheless, the SW offered Maybach-typical high-quality equipment, a perfectionist finish, maximum comfort and advanced technology. For example, the swing axle with independent front suspension, a pendulum axle at the rear and optimally adjusted suspension, which ensured excellent road-holding. The chassis in particular was a real innovation: an uncranked drop centre frame made of sheet steel, with the rear swing axle built into the tubular traverse. This allowed the SW bodies to be lower on the road than previous Maybach models but with the same interior height, and the lower centre of gravity significantly improved the driving characteristics. The modern engine design with overhead camshaft, oil filter, oil cooler and Solex twin carburettor initially produced 140 hp out of 3,435 cc. The SW also had the well-proven Maybach double high-speed gearbox, which was shifted without a clutch via two small levers on the steering wheel. From 1936 onwards, the economic situation led to increasingly poor petrol quality. And so, the engine capacity was increased to 3.8 litres (SW 38) in order to deliver the same performance even with lower petrol quality. A further increase in 1939 led to a displacement of 4.2 litres (SW 42). As usual in the luxury class at the time, the vehicles left the factory as ‘rolling chassis’. Most of them went to the Ravensburg coachbuilder Spohn, with whom the brand maintained a close relationship and who was virtually the “in-house” coachwork supplier. With new prices starting at 15,000 Reichsmark – less than half the price of a Zeppelin – the SW models were relatively affordable for a Maybach and became a great success for the brand. In five years, 1,100 examples were built. The King of Greece, several maharajas and leading personalities as well as top sportsman Max Schmeling also drove a Maybach SW. The model's worldwide success confirmed the brand's status as a manufacturer of very high-quality and trustworthy luxury vehicles. The SW series was the brand's grand finale as it marked the end of automobile production in Friedrichshafen in 1941 due to the war.