This idea is deserving of only the super-perfect minds at Mercedes Benz, for only they have the capacity to see such a project from its birth 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, why did the company spend so much energy and finance in making a vehicle that was of no commercial significance at all? Why couldn't have they used a haulier that was already available?
The tale of making the carrier has facets of dignity, passion, and common sense. In the days before World War I, there was stiff competition between Mercedes Benz and the other groups in Germany involved in racing. However, W-154 powered by the V-12 that Mercedes came up with won 12 out of the 17 events right before the war, and stole everyone's hearts. Till 1952, Mercedes had stayed out of Grand Prix racing and returned to the scene only with the start of the 1954 season.
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 had to look unlike any other on the road while being instantly recognizable as a company designed vehicle. They designed it to be one of the fastest cars on the Western European freeways of the time as well.
If you managed to get to the tracks sooner than most, you will definitely get more time to practice and prepare. This also implied that if a racer needed to be repaired, it could be sent to the plants and brought back to the racetracks well in time. Mercedes Benz created the transporter with the best of their technologies at the time. In the chassis, the X-shape of the frame reminded you of the one in the 300 S model, and the 3.0 liter, 6-cylinder engine, as well as the four speed manual transmission seemed to be reminiscent of those in the 300 SL series. Power assisted hydraulic drum brakes were fitted at all four wheels.
But the really eye-catching characteristic of the carrier was its remarkable body work. The steel panels on it were clearly inspired from other panels of the times. The 180 S served as the template for the doors, the interiors fixtures, and the windshield. In total, it had the capacity to take loading ramps, two spare tires, tools, and other equipments for the racing car without any difficulty.
Although the cab was well beyond the front axle, and was too low, this only added to the daring, and revolutionary looked that spoke of the Mercedes Benz craftwork. It had a factory blue paint that just made it all the more popular. The truck, even when it was fully loaded with 6,600 pounds, could go faster than 100 mph, something that is taken to be fast in the current times as well.
The transporter was released in the middle of the year 1954 and was a hit not only in Europe but also in the U.S. The truth was that at times, the transporter was more the topic of discussion than the racing cars it carried. As a consequence of the tragedy at the 1955 French 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, where a Mercedes Benz 300 SLR that had entered privately crashed and killed80 people, the company went in to a hiatus from racing. Till the autumn of the same year, all of the racing division had been retired including the transporter.
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. Keeping in mind the number of requests and appeals that followed its demise, Mercedes Benz chose to create a replica in 1993. It was completed in 2000, after working with an outside fabricator, photographs and sketches. 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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