Visit to Schorndorf - Stop #2 on Daimler Tour

After finishing up at the Daimler Classic Centre we headed out to Schorndorf the birthplace of Gottlieb Daimler. Before I forget we also met up with a good friend of Marcus AND a Canadian ... Ambrose Kluyskens. Ambrose was born in British Columbia and still maintains a Canadian passport. A delightful gentleman full of Daimler knowledge and is currently head of the group inside Daimler that handles visitors to Daimler. I enjoyed the subtle and very friendly competition between himself and Marcus as to who was the most knowledgable of the company. Not wanting to be a judge or anything but Marcus won. His depth of knowledge on his company is stunning.


The town of Schorndorf is only 30 minutes (26 kilometres) from Stuttgart and nestles delightfully at the foot of the vineyards in the Rems Valley. Indeed at lunch we drank two bottles of one of the local red wines. Germany isn't particularly noted for their reds but we only drank reds on this leg of the trip and they were delicious.


Located in the centre of town and bordered by timbered buildings, the historical marketplace is one of the finest of its kind in Baden-Württemberg. There are numerous well-preserved timbered structures, carefully tended with typical Swabian thoroughness. I managed to take pictures of many but also notice the buildings in the background of many of the people pictures I took as well. 


With its splendid cast-iron fountain bearing family crests, its mighty Gothic parish church and the Baroque town hall, the square is today the atmospheric setting for many festivals and other events. And indeed there was a festival while we visited with dancing and many townsfolks dressed in traditional garments. Even most vendors at the marketplace wore historical garments as you can see from my pictures.


The town is incredibly proud of Gottlieb Daimler who was born there in 1834. Daimler was the son of a master baker. His father wanted him to become a municipal employee but instead he apprenticed himself to a gunsmith. After four years of his apprenticeship, Daimler worked in a steam engine factory. He spent the next three decades working as an engineer and the technical director of engine development for a number of companies. It was during this period that he worked with Nikolaus August Otto who invented the four-cycle internal combustion engine. He developed this technology with Wilhelm Maybach, who became Daimler's best friend and long time collaborator.


The fact that he completed an apprenticeship as a gunsmith is important since making a gun involves pulling metal into a tube for the barrel of the gun. This basic skill was essential to the early development of the vehicle since as you could see from some of the pictures from the Daimler Classic Centre the infrastructure of vehicles as well as many other aspects of engine development involved the use of tubing.


We started with a visit to the Galleries for Art and Technology which is housed in an old iron furniture factory renovated to host the Gallery. There is a huge stationary engine at the rear of the building that you can see in the picture above and below. This engine was invented by Otto. He and Daimler had a falling out over the development of this technology. Daimler wanted to downsize it and make it portable to use for mobility while Otto did not want anything to do with this development. They eventually split and Daimler and his good friend Maybach left the company and moved to Bad Canstatt where they developed the first small internal combustion four cycle engine to be used for land, sea and air transportation. Thus the three pointed star emblazoned on every Mercedes Benz vehicle. Both were relatively old at the time and both were quite wealthy as a result of the split with Otto so their development of a small high speed petrol engine was driven by a pure passion for mobility rather than for economic purposes per se. Of course he became very wealthy with his inventions but when you walk in his shoes you also better understand that 'passion' was the primary driving force.

One of the thrills of this visit was a tour of Daimler's house that he grew up in. The house was bought by the Daimler Benz company in 1979 and restored and today it is a museum as well as a conference venue for the Daimler AG. Marcus has access to the upstairs ( closed to visitors ) and we were able to tour the entire structure and Marcus even created a page in the visitor's book commemorating our visit that day and all three of us signed it. Kind of special given the other names in the book. 


Wedding pictures are popular at the front of the house and of course ... being an amateur wedding photographer ... I got in on the action as well.


The Daimler board on occasion have their meetings in this house especially when important decisions have to be made which helps them understand the history of the company and provides inspiration for their decision making. This is what was so neat about these tours during the day. The importance of history in the development of this company.


The following pictures tries to capture some of this history and the ambiance of the city. They do not do it justice but at least I tried.


Life is good .. enjoy.


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