a Lot of courage, the Mercedes-maker, as they presented 1969, a futuristic vehicle. The C 111 was a sports car with a Wankel engine, painted in Orange Metallic, extremely flat and unsaleable.
Twelve examples were built and were used primarily to test the drive concept. Already since the beginning of the 1960s, Mercedes-Benz worked on the Felix Wankel-developed engine, the peak of the C 111 was. 15. July 1969, held at the Hockenheimring, the first test drive of the then as a C 101 designated mid-engine sports car. At the IAA in September Mercedes-Benz presented the car – well as the C 111, as Peugeot had protected the type 101.
First copies with Wankel engines
The first C 111 was powered by a Three-rotor Wankel engine with three times 600 cubic centimetres, and it had 280 HP. In the later Version, at the Geneva auto salon in March 1970, presented the C 111-II made the Four-disc Motor with four times the 600 cubic centimeters of chamber volume 350 HP . In the case of the innovation support was also tested, the extent to which glass-fiber-reinforced plastic (GRP) can be used for the body. This was a revolutionary – with the frame-soil system (with integrated roll bar) glued and riveted in the side frames of the longitudinal, two fuel tanks, capacity 60 liters, were placed carriers. Not least because of the oil crisis in 1973, the manufacturer, the project Wankel C-111 chose not to pursue, in spite of spectacular driving performance and the smoothness of this engine because of high fuel consumption and emission values were not get a grip on to. Instead, the sports car with five-cylinder have been converted to diesel engines and, later, with a V8 petrol engine.
With Diesel at record hunting
in 1976, were the only 1.12 metres high and 4,23 meters long C 111 of the second and third Generation, then for the record: On the high-speed course in Nardo in southern Italy’s Puglia Region, the C 111-II was Diesel, numerous best brands and several world records, including at the 5. May 1979 stretch the lap record with a speed of 403.978 km/h . The painting of the C 111 caused a lot of attention: The Orange Metallic was the wine, borrowed from the designation “Weißherbst”. The same liquid drop has an iridescent Orange-pink coloring.
interesting : brands, colors and engines: Aral-study is researching what the next 18 months.
in Spite of the blank checks, is absolutely not for sale
not to build Despite the great public interest, on the fairs in Frankfurt (1969) and Geneva (1970) and many buying willing, Mercedes-Benz, chose the C 111 for sale . It also several blank checks for financially strong buyers could change anything, received in Untertürkheim. Today, eight of the specimens are according to the Internet ENCYCLOPAEDIA Wikipedia is still present, the others were scrapped, or accident damage irreparably destroyed. The experts from Mercedes-Benz Classic maintain engines and bodies, and always have at least a C 111-minute.
love : the traditional and the Modern: on-the-Go with the Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC.
Volker Pfau
