Maybach DS8 Cabriolet Zeppelin 1930 Zingg

Maybach DS8 Cabriolet Zeppelin 1930 Zingg by Autocult

The Luxury of an Expatriate…  

As is well known, there was no limit to luxury in the Maybach car world. The interior, as well as the body, engine, and chassis were always designed according to this principle.   For the year 1931, the Friedrichshafen plant offered its novelty with the abbreviation DS8, whereby this short version stood for “Double Six 8 Liters Displacement” In contrast to the DS7, the 12-cylinder engine of the successor was enlarged by a whole liter – to eight liters of displacement – which resulted in the maximum output of 200 hp at a moderate 3,200 rpm in an extremely smooth way. These were sufficient for 170 km/h, despite the high weight of the vehicle – the chassis alone weighed 1,950 kg. The high speed was also supported by the new 5-speed transmission, which – in contrast to the DS7 – had a vacuum-operated preselection shift. The chassis was available in two wheelbases 3,660 and 3,750 millimeters.   Gustav August Heinrich Zingg, who was 52 years old at the time, opted for a substructure with the shorter wheelbase when he approached the Friedrichshafen plant and ordered a DS8. The Hanseatic League, who had become very wealthy, had emigrated from Germany to Venezuela in 1899 and took his two-door sports convertible with a body from the Spohn company with him to his adopted home in 1931. Zingg had his white convertible into the Zeppelin line offered by Maybach at the time. This included interventions in the body, such as slight changes to the fenders, with running boards serving as a connecting piece between the front and rear. His DS8 passed into the hand of an American after the Second World War and found its way back to Germany in 2004.