Jalopnik
With most automakers, a claim that one of their cars was able to drive 31,000 miles in eight days with no breakdowns, at an average speed of 154 miles per hour... well, you'd probably call bullshit. But when Mercedes-Benz makes a claim like that, folks tend to believe it (especially back in the 80s, when this ad was made). No wonder a 190 of this era finished in the Top 10 at the last Altamont 24 Hours of LeMons! Hey, is that soundtrack from Dark Side Of The Moon?
Around The World At 154 MPH, No Problems
With most automakers, a claim that one of their cars was able to drive 31,000 miles in eight days with no breakdowns, at an average speed of 154 miles per hour... well, you'd probably call bullshit. But when Mercedes-Benz makes a claim like that, folks tend to believe it (especially back in the 80s, when this ad was made). No wonder a 190 of this era
Read More:
1:40 PM on Fri Apr 25 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,680 views
43 comments
Comments
Nice...
My suggestion for a future JFG nomination? A face-off between the 190E 16-valve and the E30 M3 for a battle of the O.G. DTM pocket rocket homoligation specials.
@Tomsk: You spelled hooligan wrong.
oh, wait.
We went around the world going 154 miles an hour..yeah! And we did it while using Cheez whiz for gas! Yeah, thats the ticket! and we lived on nothing but hostess cherry pies and bleach! Yeah, thats right!
By the way, a 16 valve 190 has a cossie motor that would go pop.
@Chinese Knockoff Bento: cheez whiz actually makes a lot of gas.
But when a Mercedes Bluetec (nee CDI) drove 100k miles at 225kph on a Texas track a few years ago, I don't remember seeing a single ad in the media for this awesome feat.
[www.carpages.co.uk]
It's impressive, yes. But a pointless claim, nonetheless. Who drives 154mph for 8 days straight, racking up 31k miles? How about normal to harsh driving conditions for 1 year? Expose to the everyday elements for a year, like traffic, snow, salt, and desert heat?
That's like a jock bragging he can lift 180lbs. Yes, but for how long?
Speed Limit Strictly Enforced
the dude doing the voiceover for that ad sounded psychotic.
Um, did anyone do the math? 8 days is 192 hours.
154 mph works out to 29,568
31,000 miles would need an average speed of just shy of 161.5 mph.
I saw that car at the Daimler Benz museum in Unterturckheim, near Stuttgart. I saw it tucked in a corner among all those supercars and then spent like thirty minutes hovering around it with very bad thoughts in my head...
Did you notice the narrator says "Equivalent to"? Did they do this at a race track or something? *shrug*
@smalleyxb122: convenient mile to kilometer "conversion error"
Great 190E 2.3-16 article here:
[www.motivemag.com]
A slightly modified, higher-geared version of the car broke twelve speed records by covering 31,000 miles at the Nardo oval in Italy in just eight days, moving at an average of 154 mph.
@Chinese Knockoff Bento: No matter what else John Lovits ever does (which I guess hasn't been a ton) he will always be that lying guy on SNL.
@smalleyxb122:
The narrator said "eight and a half days." 8.5 days * 24hr/day * 154mi/hr = 31416 miles.
@Grambo: That's what I get for not having audio on my work computer.
I believe the song is Brain Damage/Eclipse off of Dark Side of the Moon.
@Tomsk: I second that nomination.
@BMRFILE: It's an impressive test of endurance, and similar to the claims of endurance used in the nomination of the ZR1 into the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage.
@BMRFILE: I remember reading about an E30 325i that had 1 million miles on it. Mobil put the first 100k on it driving around, then they had to put it on their track in New Jersey for the other 90%.
@AshMeAboutMyCar: 100k miles at 225kph.
That is, hands down, the most mish-mashiest mish-mash of metric, english and analog that has ever mish-mashed.
I had a Merc cosworth,fuckin epic car, the one car i wish i never sold.
@smalleyxb122:
Did you take in to account the pit stop time?
I once drive my 72 Pinto an hour straight home from college in the snow to watch Bob McAdoo on TV.
Does that count for anything??
@beercheck: "kilo" is a SI prefix, not a metric system unit. While odd, a kilomile is a perfectly legitemate unit. And with that, someone should start labeling engineering drawings in nanomiles and see how long it takes them to get fired.
@elwood: SI = metric, no?
@elwood: LOL!
Of course, the voice over said they did nothing but add fuel and change drivers, yet the video shows a tire change, too.
Lying bastages!
I can only imagine how mind numbingly boring driving around Nardo for 8.5 days would be... "Hey, Heinrich, don't forget to turn left!"
@beercheck: Well, once again, you are correct. The SI unit system has been the official metric system since 1960. Before 1960, the base units were the meter, kilogram, and secon, whereas the current SI system base units are the centimeter, gram, and second.
[en.wikipedia.org]
Regardless, kilomile would still be a valid unit. A common English unit that mixes the SI prefixes in is the ksi, which is kilo PSI. Also, the kip is a common unit, which is kilo pound.
And now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
@elwood: All that said, Ash still listed speed over those kilomiles in kilometers/hour.
@beercheck: Yeah, he was mixing and matching his systems, which is bad form. Sometimes I go off topic just because I can.
@wookie1901: And therefore the Son of David "Izusu" Leisure.
How much is that in "farthings per fortnight"?
@SundaySundayFnC:
154 mph = 413,952 furlongs per fortnight
(Source: [www.google.com] )
@comedian: My car gets 40 rods per hogshead!
Sooo what happened after 31,000 miles??? Did they get bored and go home? Did the car puke out the bottom end? Did it throw a rod, bend a valve, or spin a bearing? I think the fate of the car would say much more than just the 31,000 miles it travelled.
@79TA: 31,000 miles is a nice, round 50,000 kilometers, so I wouldn't be surprised if they just stopped there and had a celebratory beer. Remember, these were the days when Mercedes-Benzes really WERE engineered better than anything else on the road. As franzouse saw, it's now in the MB museum in Germany. Also, he apparently wants to go dragon on it.
@BMRFILE: It'll handle commuting, too. This jock can lift heavy stuff all day long.
@hootjigga
40 (rods per hogshead) = 0.00198412698 miles per gallon.
What the hell do you drive?
1997 at Talledega superspeedway in Ala.factory stock '97 900-SE 185 h.p.turbo,Eight days,25,0000 miles non-stop:avg.speed 140.709 m.ph.!You can look it up.
this is a direct theft from [www.trollhattansaab.net]
1986 - The Long Run
Saab's first Talladega experience was in 1986. They took three rock-standard 9000 Turbos from the factory and run them around the high-speed Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The cars covered 100,000 kilometers, stopping only for driver changes and routine servicing.
Saab set 23 different records during this run and confirmed for themselves a solid reputation for reliability.
Starting October 7th, the three cars were driven for around 20 days straight. The fastest of the three cars averaged 213.299 km/h during the run, the other two cars averaging around 210 km/h and 208 km/h (Saab Museum)
end quote
100,000 KM is 62,500 miles
8 days? I hope the driver had a Pee Pee Bottle with him..
I have an issue of CAR from the mid 80's with a big story about this. Taller gearing, larger front air dam, even outside ventilation to the interior blocked off (temps reached 122 mph!), reverse gear removed to save weight. Very little went wrong with the cars (yes more than 1 was running) and even oil changes and valve adjustments were down to a 5 minute science.
Oddly enough the cars (at least when photographed for the story) DID have a passenger side rearview mirror and 3 pointed star hood emblem.
No fresh air vent, but you can bullet down 150+ staring through the star. Those wacky germans!
Uhm, temps reached 122 degrees. Brain fart....
Oh, and BTW; this was done in 1983 with pre-production 16v cars. Interesting to note in the photos in the article one "sport" seat and 1 standard seat.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?