Aug 11
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How Mercedes Benz Could Not Make ‘Just A Large Carrier’
Only the perfectionists at Mercedes Benz are capable of thinking up something like this, and no one else could ever have had seen this project to its end. Design a hauler that has to cart a racing car to various racing events spread over Europe, and make it beautiful, fast and, in a word, the best one. However, what could have made the company invest so much money and effort in designing something that will not even have any direct commercial value to them? Wasn’t the job possible with just a big van? Visit melbourne mercedes to learn more about mercedez .
The story behind the transporter’s creation is a blending of pride, passion and practicality. Ahead of the First World War, there had been a bitter rivalry going on between Mercedes Benz and the racing teams of Germany at the time. However, Mercedes’ V 12 powered W 154 proved to be the car to beat, as it won 12 of the 17 events leading up to the war. Resulting from a decision that was taken in 1952, Mercedes came back to the game of Grand Prix racing in the season of 1954.
To announce its return, Benz chose to design a special haulier that will carry its all-new W-196 racer, a racing model that had a famous Argentinean racer as its pilot. The carrier was to be such that it was other any of its type, and easily recognized on the road as a Mercedes product. It even had to the speediest of its type, as well as comparably fast to any other car on the free roads of Western Europe.
If you managed to get to the tracks sooner than most, you will definitely get more time to practice and prepare. It also gave you time for repairs and even get the car back to the tracks ahead of time. Technically, the transporter incorporated the best that Mercedes Benz had to offer. It not only had the 3.0 liter, 6-cylinder engine and the four speed manual transmission of the 300 SL series sports cars, but even the frame of the 300 S model, with a slight extension of X-shaped frame was installed in it. The brakes on every wheel were power-assisted along with the customary hydraulic drums. If you like this mercedez article check out mercedes benz cars for more top quality information.
However, what was most remarkable was the carrier’s body work. The majority of the steel panels that were used were based on models that used to be popular at that time. The doors and front glass, for example, were borrowed from the 180 sedan, as were most of the interior finishing’s. It had enough space to accommodate two spare tires, a loading ramp, tools, and all necessary equipment for the racing car.
The single cab was kept unconventionally up front , way too much ahead of the front axle , and the cab itself was placed seemingly too low, but the look that was obtained in the end was definitely Mercedes Benz. It had a factory blue paint that just made it all the more popular. The truck, even with complete load weight of 6,600 pounds, could easily go past 100 mph, a speed that many would consider fast today too.
The transporter was rolled out in 1954, sometime around June, and was an immediate success in Europe and, across the Atlantic, in the U.S. Actually, it was the case that the transporter drew more attention than the racers it carried. Mercedes Benz withdrew from racing following the tragic events of the 1955 French 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race after a privately entered Mercedes Benz 300 SLR crashed, killing 80 people. By the autumn of that year, the entire racing division, including the transporter, was retired.
The vehicle turned out to be so heavy that the company even gave up the idea of keeping it , and its payload , in its museum, because the floors would have given way. In the years following its termination, Mercedes Benz got such a huge number of requests that it decided to make a replica in 1993. Using only a few sketches and pictures and an outside fabricator, the company came out with it in 2000. Now, this amazing vehicle by Mercedes Benz does not have to sink in to fameless oblivion , and shall ever be retained in racing car history in the form of the replica.
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