A hundred years ago, Dr. Karl Schmid and his new bride celebrated their nuptials with a 10-day honeymoon driving tour, crossing the perilous, snow-covered Swiss and Italian Alps in their stately, open-top Maybach. The 1,370-mile grand adventure kicked off in Friedrichshafen, Germany, home then to the Maybach-Moterenbau factory, with the couple heading to Lausanne on Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, the great St. Bernhard and Gotthard Passes, stopping off on Italy’s Lake Como, before threading their way home. Back in 1925, Alpine travel was extremely challenging. Most roads were nothing more than unpaved, gravel tracks with steep inclines, scary drop-offs, and switchback curves. Throw in snowstorms, avalanches, and freezing temperatures, and it was a true test of man and machine. Yet according to Herr Schmid’s well-preserved and highly detailed handwritten travel diary and photo albums—now part of the Museum of Historic Maybach Vehicles archives in Neumarkt, Germany—the trip went without a glitch. Seems..
