Mercedes-Benz SSK, 1929

Classic Car | Mercedes-Benz SSK

Mercedes-Benz SSK, 1929

   Capable of speeds up to 120 mph (193 km/h), the last car that Ferdinand Porsche worked on at Mercedes-Benz was also the fastest vehicle of its day, a status that guaranteed it several racetrack victories.

Six-cylinder in-line engine, single overhead shaft, Roots-type compressor, 7059 cc, a hundred and forty HP at 3200 rev (200 HP with blower engaged).

Whatever the figure, the sound of the SSK was extraordinary. So, too, was the automotive – its look theatrical, its power staggering. The SSK has since served as inspiration for such modern replicas because the blade.

 
The S series had been introduced in 1927, shortly following the merger of engineer and archrival Benz. In turn, the S was follow by the SS. each cars were designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and were eminent in races goodbye because the road was straight. This limitation distressed race manager Alfred Neubauer.

Thus, throughout the spring of 1928, Porsche was directed to conjure a less unwieldy automotive for plant ace Rudi Caracciola to drive in hill climbs. The SSK had the S radiator, the SS engine, Associate in Nursing capably named “elephant blower” and a chassis shortened by 18 inches. In 2 years Rudi won twenty six hill climbs.

As its forerunner, the SSK was each race and production automotive. For competition, the engine developed over three hundred HP. though tamed for the road, the SSK remained one among the foremost powerful sports cars on public sale anyplace.

Just thirty one SSKs were in-built 3 years, Associate in Nursing insignificant range given the 9000-car annual company production throughout this era. however the car’s message price was monumental several SSKs were owned by celebrities – as this one, that was engineered for English sportsman Dorothy pathologist, well-known sponsor of the Blower Bentley race team. 

A resulting owner was David Scott-Moncrieff, author of the pioneering Mercedes-Benz history, 3 Pointed Star, who, it's been according “drove the wheels” off the automotive.

The SSK’s final flowering arrived in 1931 within the kind of the SSKL (“L” for light), that was completed by the copious drilling of holes throughout the SSK chassis to scale back weight by 250 pounds. Solely handfuls were engineered, strictly for competition; no real examples survive.