The Maybach Zeppelin DS8 was the flagship of the German Maybach company in the 1930s and one of the grandest cars of its era. It was powered by an 8-litre V12 — “DS8” stands for Doppel-Sechs, “double six”, 8 litres — and it took its name from the Zeppelin airships whose engines Maybach had built. It competed with the finest cars from Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz and Hispano-Suiza, and today it is among the most prized German classic cars.

At a glance
Maker Maybach-Motorenbau, Friedrichshafen, Germany
Introduced 1930 (preceded by the 7-litre DS7 in 1929)
Engine 8-litre V12
Bodies Sedans, limousines, convertibles by coachbuilders such as Spohn
Production Small numbers — a few hundred Zeppelins in total

Why “Zeppelin”?

Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl were engine pioneers. Their company in Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance, built engines for Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s airships, including those of the famous Graf Zeppelin. When Maybach began building cars, its flagship took the Zeppelin name to link it with that engineering prestige. Read the history of Maybach.

A V12 for the super-rich

The DS8’s V12 produced around 200 horsepower, a large figure for the time, and it needed a complex multi-speed transmission to cope with the car’s great weight. The cars were built as rolling chassis and clothed by coachbuilders — most famously Hermann Spohn of Ravensburg, whose streamlined bodies are especially coveted.

A short era

Maybach built cars only from 1921 to about 1941, producing a relatively small number overall. During the Second World War the company turned to building engines for military vehicles, and after the war it concentrated on large diesel engines. The car business never resumed until Daimler revived the name in 2002. See the Maybach 57 and 62.

The Zeppelin name returns

In 2009, the revived Maybach brand launched the Maybach Zeppelin, a final, more powerful edition of the 62, with two-tone paint and a perfume atomizer. And today’s Mercedes-Maybach two-tone paint schemes echo the 1930s cars.