SOLVED: WTH # 278 - 1919 DMG Daimler Allrad Zugwagen 4WD 4WS prototype

[sixtee5cuda]

For one point, provide the year and make of this unusual truck

[sixtee5cuda]

Up!  Easy Expert point?

[Bill Murray]

Easy for you to say Amigo .

For starters, is this a German origin truck?

Bill

[sixtee5cuda]

Yes, this is a German truck

[D-type]

Road/rail ?

[sixtee5cuda]

I do not know if this was intended for road/rail use.  It is old enough, it may have been allowed on the roads looking like this.

[Bill Murray]

Not easy this one!!

Observations that maybe someone else can use as well as me.

I think it is a Ballast Truck, based on the high, small cargo compartment that apparently does not tip.
The front fenders/mudguards appear to be hinged and in the "up" position in this photo, presumably for tire clearance when turning.
I have not figured out why the 4 wheel steering is necessary yet.  If used on a railroad, that would seem unnecessary.

That's it for now.

Bill

[Bill Murray]

Well, I think I found it.

After chasing a half dozen exotic and rare German truck brands, I finally gave up and went looking for the "obvious".

From what I found, this is a Mercedes "Dernburg" truck and the year stated is 1907 although it looks more modern than that to me.  On the other hand, it seems this particular truck may have been a one off prototype for the Imperial German Army prior to WWI.  It was also said to be the "model" for a small number of similar vehicles sent to the former German Colonies.

Unfortunately, I have not come up with any more details on this particular truck and I still am a bit baffled by the type of tyres it uses but I will keep on looking a bit more.

Bill

[sixtee5cuda]

The point goes to Bill Murray for the correct answer.  I only asked for make and year, because that was all the information I had.  I didn't even figure out what "Dernburg" was.

[Wendax]

The Dernburg-Wagen (http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=1872) was named after Bernhard Dernburg, German Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, who drove that car for quite a while in the German colony of South West Africa (now Namibia).

[Bill Murray]

Yup, that is the "Colonial" version and apparently all of them were named Dernburg after that gentleman.
To save time, if you Google "Dernburg Wagen" which I did about an hour ago, you can get the whole story in 3-4 languages.

Bill

[Craig Gillingham]

I'm sure this is the 1919 Daimler type DZ, the four wheel steer prototype. The 1907 Dernburg was a very different machine, as Wendax states.

[Wendax]

I agree with Craig about the year and it not being a Dernburg. Oswald has it as the Daimler KDI, an artillery tractor from 1917 The name Mercedes wasn't applied to the Daimler trucks until the fusion with Benz in 1926.

[Craig Gillingham]

The earlier version was the Krupp-Daimler KD1 from 1917-1919

[sixtee5cuda]

I found a Daimler-sourced page indicating it is in fact a 1907 Dernburg, but I will look into it further after work.

[grobmotorix]

It is not a Mercedes Dernburg but a:
DMG (Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft) prototype Allrad-Zugwagen.

The version you´ve shown with the puzzle pic is a little different to the standard version.
The normal version was called  Allrad-Zugwagen DZ1, which was produced in higher numbers as can be seen here and did not feature AWS:

[grobmotorix]

Here´s another photo of one of the three 1919 DMG Daimler Allrad Zugwagen prototypes.

Only three were built, the internal name was "Werksschlepper".
They featured all wheel drive, all wheel steering, 8-gearbox from the DZ1.
Engine: M1154, 22/50PS, 5700ccm, bore 110mm stroke 150mm, 50HP at 1200r/min, 4 tons, 28 km/h...

[grobmotorix]

I´ve found a photo of the chassis showing your version of the 22/50PS Werksschlepper prototype using the wider wheels:

[grobmotorix]

Your online source simply was wrong with connecting the puzzle photo with the older DMG Zugmaschine, which featured AWD, but not AWS and looked different. Do I get a point for this...?
Just to prove my words, here is a photo of a 1907 DMG Allrad-Motor-Zugwagen 60/80PS and of the 1912 version with 100PS:

[sixtee5cuda]

A point for Grob, with the correct identification.