DETROIT, 12:29 PM, SUN JUL 6 | 4 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@jalopnik.com | RSS

Frankfurt Auto Show: Mercedes-Benz Rekordwagen C111-IID

Wandering around what we seem to remember as the basement of the Frankfurt Auto Show revealed this Mercedes C111 Rekordwagen. The five-cylinder diesel propelled this C111-IID research vehicle to an average speed of 252 km/hr at the test track at Nardo, Italy. The crew set a total of 16 world records in the process. The first versions of the C111 test platform were powered by a wankel engine, which Mercedes engineers ultimately determined to be too inefficient by design. They opted instead for the precision of a turbodiesel.

1:49 PM on Tue Sep 18 2007
By Mike Bumbeck
807 views
7 comments

Comments

  • Eww. No wonder M-B uses the Wankels in its sales literature. This thing looks a little like a Lancia Beta Monte Carlo with an overgrown snout.

    One of the versions had a drag coefficient below 0.20, enabling it to reach 200mph with only 230 horsepower. I'm sure it was not friendly in traffic, however.

  • I thought Fantasy Garage wasn't until Wednesday?

  • That nose would sure throw your depth perception off. You would be running into all kinds of things.

  • As the proud owner of a malaise-era Merc 5-cylinder turbodiesel (the engine's codename is OM617, IIRC), I worship the cloud of particulates this baby puts out. Those motors are, after all, so durable that I have a large sum of money riding on the hope that they will be the only things still around after the apocalypse (other than cockroaches, of course). Still not sure how I'll collect my winnings, though...

  • Say what you will, but my 14 year-old self was SO obsessed with the C111 series, back in the late-'70s. I longed for a revival of the Silver Arrows race series ("now in wedge form!"), with MB fielding C111s v/s BMW's M1s.

  • @TomAnderson: Also, Stuttgart needs to put those wheels into production, if only because they would look positively bitchin' on my lowered 300 SD.

  • This car is dripping with awesomeness. The only drawback would be the amount of time it would take to put on your "Batman villain make-up" before you drove it.

Start a discussion:

Reply by Email

Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.