MERCEDES-BENZ TRANSPORTER
This racecar needed speed on the track and on the highways between them
The Mercedes-Benz transporter was all about image, but it also had the purpose of moving the company’s finest racing car to and from events throughout Europe as quickly as possible.
The story behind the transporter is a blending of pride, passion and practicality.
Before the First World War, MercedesBenz had been locked in fierce competition with the German Auto Union racing teams. Mercedes’ 3.0-litre V-12-powered W 154 proved the car to beat as it won 12 of the 17 events leading up to the war.
It wasn’t until 1952 — well after the Second World War — that MercedesBenz management made the decision to return to Grand Prix racing, beginning with the 1954 season.
To trumpet the comeback, MercedesBenz decided to build a special truck to haul its all-new W 196 racer, a car that was piloted by Argentine ace Juan Manuel Fangio.
The carrier had to look unlike any other on the road while being instantly recognizable as a company-designed vehicle. It also had to be faster than all similar-sized rigs as well as most of the cars that plied the highways of western Europe (not to mention the no-speedlimit German Autobahn). Why? Getting the car to the race track faster and sooner meant more preparation and practice time. It also meant that a damaged racer could be returned to the plant for repairs and returned to action in record time.
Technically, the transporter incorporated the best that MercedesBenz had to offer. The extended X-shaped frame was based on the automaker’s fullsized 300 S sedan while the 3.0-litre sixcylinder engine and four-speed manual transmission were similar to the components installed in the 300 SL gullwing sports cars. Power-assisted hydraulic drum brakes were fitted at all four wheels.
By far the transporter’s most unusual feature was its breathtaking bodywork. Many of the steel panels were based on, or modified from models that existed at the time. The doors and front glass, for example, were borrowed from the 180 sedan, as were most of the interior finishings. Between the front and rear fenders was space for two spare tires, loading ramps as well as tools and other equipment for the race car.
The entire cab area was positioned low to the ground in what appeared to be a precarious position, well ahead of the front axle. Odd to be sure, but unmistakably Mercedes-looking.
The finished product, painted in factory blue, was more than just an eyecatching success. It was a truck that, despite a fully loaded weight of about 3,000 kilograms, was capable of 160 kmh, with the racecar on the back.
The transporter took to the road in mid-1954 and was an immediate hit at tracks in Europe as well as North America. In fact, many of the crowds that flocked to it were far greater than those that surrounded the race cars it carried.
Mercedes-Benz withdrew from racing following the tragic events of the 1955 French 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race where a privately-entered M-B 300 SLR crashed, killing 80 people. By the autumn of that year, the entire racing division, including the transporter, was retired.
Although plans were made to place the vehicle and its precious cargo in the company’s museum, its weight proved too much for the building’s floors and the idea, as well as the transporter itself, was scrapped.
In the years following its demise, Mercedes-Benz received so many inquiries from fans of its magnificent machine that in 1993 it was decided to build a replica. Using an outside fabricator and working only from a few sketches and photographs (no original blueprints were located), the vehicle was finally completed in 2000. It’s pictured here. A brief, but glorious page in Mercedes-Benz racing history had been miraculously returned to once more amuse and amaze both new friends and old alike.