Gottlieb Daimler was born in 1834 and already showed an interest in engineering by the age of 13. After spending his early years training as a gunsmith, he became the foreman for a railway locomotive manufacturer where he developed his belief that the steam engine was destined to be superseded. He spent the next thirty years working to produce machine tools and woodworking machinery until the Otto and Cie Company, reorganized as Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz, appointed Daimler as factory manager. He brought in a young Wilhelm Maybach as chief designer and improved production for the factory, but, due to issues with management, Daimler resigned to set up his own shop in 1882. Maybach quickly followed and, by the end of 1883, the pair had patented their first ligroin-fueled engine. By 1885, they fit their so-called “Grandfather Clock Engine” to a specialized two-wheeled chassis, making the first vehicle powered by combustion engine. In 1886, and though only 60 miles apart, both Daimler and Karl Benz independently developed automobiles, though Daimler and Maybach would continue using their engines mostly for boats. In 1893, after many years of internal battles and philosophical differences, Daimler left DMG and continued working with Maybach, who had also left the company, on a freelance basis. One year later in the first organized automobile race, DMG’s entries were embarrassed by the independent duo and DMG was forced to bring the founder back. Daimler died in 1900 and, though largely uncooperative and combative during his life, DMG and their chief rival, Benz & Cie, merged in 1926, eventually leading to the Mercedes-Benz we know today.