A Maybach in captivity

Sir,
I was interested to see the photograph of a Maybach in Poole in your October issue.

I doubt, however, if this is anything as elephantine as a “Zeppelin” V12 or even the DSH, which was the same thing but with a rather inadequate six-cylinder engine. My guess is that it is an example of the last of the Maybachs, the six-cylinder o.h.c. SW series with all-independent suspension, first seen at the 1935 Berlin Show with a “square” (90 x 90-mm.) 3.4-litre engine, and later expanded to 1.8 litres in 1936, and 4.2 litres just before the War. The German Embassy car you mention was either a SW38 or a SW42, and I used to see a SW35 sports saloon in Kensington around 1952. One of these cars with limousine bodywork came up for auction at Sotheby’s a year or two ago and anyone who saw this will realise that a “small” Maybach is quite a lot of car: nearly 4,000 lb. in cabriolet form, and 2 1/2 tons with formal carrosserie.

Michael Sedgwick.
Midhurst.