The Mercedes 35 HP was the first real race car built by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The first use of the name Mercedes was registered a year ago, in 1900, when Daimler Phoenix cars was entered by Emil Jelinek in the Nice Speed Week, a series of races at the French Riviera. Jelinek was a wealthy Austrian businessman, Daimler concessionaire and Austro-Hungarian diplomat living in Nice. He had a daughter Adriana Manuela Ramona Jelinek, who was 10 years old in 1901. In the family Manuela was given a pet name Mercedes, and Emil Jelinek used this name for his various possessions including villas, mansions etc. He also used Mercedes mane for his Daimler cars. In 1901 Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler designed a radical new 35 HP racing car for Jelinek and his team. The car was equipped with a powerful 5.9 L straight-4 petrol engine, it was both wider and larger with a tailored steel chassis, and its center of mass was near the ground. Originally designed as a racing car, the Mercedes 35 HP was further developed for normal road use. Its debut in motor racing was at the 1901 Pau – Orthez – Pau race (Circuit de Sud-Ouest) where Claude Lorrain Barrow did not finish. At the next event, Nice Speed Week, three Mercedes 35 HP cars were driven by Willhelm Werner, Georges Lemaitre and Claude Lorrain Barrow. Werner won the main event of the week, Nice – Salon – Nice race, Lorrain Barrow was fourth, and Lemaitre was out of the race. Later that year Mercedes 35 HP cars raced in the major races of the year – Paris – Bordeaux race and Paris – Berlin race, but without significant success. The scale model of Mercedes 35 HP is produced by IXO in its Museum series. The model is designated as “Mercedes Simplex 35 HP”, while the name “Simplex” was used first time for the 1903 40 HP car. This model in different color was also issued in Altaya La Legende Mercedes-Benz as 1902 Mercedes-Simplex 40 HP.
| Season | Series | Event |
| 1901 | City to City | |
| Driver | No. | Entrant |
| Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
| 1:43 | IXO | IXO Museum |
| Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
| MUS027 | 
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