Friday, September 21, 2007

Mercedes-Benz: 1930 and beyond for Mercedes-Benz.


Mercedes-Benz launched their biggest and most prestigious car to date in 1930. The 770 Grosser was powered by an 8 cylinder, 7.6 liter engine. A car for the truly wealthy of the world, it was quite an automobile for showing off in a world economy still reeling from the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

The cars of the 1930s produced great racing success for Mercedes-Benz. The silver metal bodywork gave rise to the name Silver Arrows when the W25 racer (of Rudolph Caracciola fame) had the white paint removed to lower its weight.

W125 (200 mph top speed) won seven out of thirteen races in 1937 followed by the successful W154. In 1939 Mercedes-Benz built a small V8 races specifically to win the Tripoli GP It did win! The Mercedes-Benz 170V gave Mercedes the capability of surviving and then recovering from WW II.

For instance, there's the 300SL Gullwing from the 50's with doors that open like wings from the center, or the Mercedes-Benz 600, the car that carried several popes, speedsters that look like batman, or the racing car that had such a snug seat the driver had to be lifted in by a crane. This is the stuff that makes you a car junkie.


The New Mercedes-Benz museum, which has design elements of New York's Guggenheim, will open the spring of 2006 along with the world soccer championships in Germany. This museum will hold up to 250 classic cars.

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