Mercedes-Benz: A truck for fast stars 🎥
UNIKAT Close-up is the name of a series at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Each episode tells surprising and background stories with a look at the details of a vehicle. Now the focus is on the fast transporter from 1955.
The original vehicle was created in 1954 in the Mercedes-Benz test workshop for the motorsport season. The separation between the driver's cab and the loading area, which is customary in commercial vehicles, is omitted. Instead, the van has a body as if cast from a single mold. Low, the cab positioned in front of the front axle ducks down toward the road, and the rear fenders read Max. Speed 105 mph can be read. That stands for the more than respectable top speed of 170 km/h at the time.
Air brake behind the driver
A 300 SLR (W 196 S) is lashed to the loading area. Mercedes won the sports car world championship in 1955 with these boldids. The fast transporter transported the 300 SLR and the W 196 R Formula 1 racing cars across Europe in that season. A special feature of the racing car on the fast transporter is the air brake behind the driver's seat. It is extended when braking from high speeds and relieves the drum brakes. With this air brake, the 300 SLR was used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Swedish Grand Prix.
Six-cylinder engine with 192 hp
The Transporter was closely related to series products of its time. The chassis came from the exclusive 300 S (W 188), and the Ponton sedan (W 120) contributed numerous body parts. The six-cylinder M 198 engine with three liters of displacement came from the 300 SL Gullwing (W 198). There, the unit produced 215 hp at 5800 rpm, while in the racing car fast transporter it produced 192 hp at 5500 rpm. The original Transporter has not been preserved, because after the brand's withdrawal from racing at the end of 1955, it was used in road tests and unfortunately scrapped in 1967.
