Museum treasures in store...

Meanwhile, in the Mercedes-Benz Museum stores...rarities which TNF will appreciate and understand...



The Collection's runnable W154, W125, Sauber-Mercedes C-whatever Le Mans Coupe thingie, and F1 McLaren-Mercedes awaiting their next 15 minutes of fame... Note the 'Boxed & Mint' stacked storage system for little-used but otherwise display-standard cars beyond.



Utterly absorbing - the legendary 5577cc Typ DAB V12 engine (for decades the most powerful automotive engine produced by Daimler-Benz) mounted in an extensively drilled and lightened 1936-series single-seater fabricated box-section chassis frame...presumably this was the open-wheeled single-seater hybrid car with DAB engine used briefly before the Libre race at AVUS 1937 by Zehender - as suggested by its einsitzer-width dash bulkhead.


The startling 'dead axle' rear suspension system of the much maligned 1936 Mercedes-Benz GP chassis, exposed on this DAB-engined apparent AVUS car.


Now what do you suspect this might be... this time a W125-like oval-section tube chassis frame and a V12 engine up front...


Two angled superchargers, no provision for front brake drums on those hubs and...this massive ice tank in place of a conventional radiator up front...a record car!


Is it another big DAB V12 engine or a small GP-type 3-litre V12? I'm told it's the former, and that this is the guts of the 1938 record car whose sleek twin-nostril body is displayed within the new Museum, just behind the T80 Land Speed Record shell - the car in which Caracciola achieved his 268.712mph for the kilometer and 268.496 for the mile - fastest ever on a public road?


Hmm - no visible outriggers to support a wheel-enveloping body - nor apparent sign of their having been removed...yet the 1939 slender-bodied and 'spatted' Dessau 3-litre record car used an ice tank in the rear, not the front?


Another minor anomaly for we anoraks - '658' numbered and liveried for Fangio 1955 Mille Miglia, yet this is the '1956' outboard front brake short-wheelbase 300SLR which remained unraced.


Privileged view of the 300SLR driveline, floor and clutch housing panels removed - revealing the angled prop-shaft which spears in beneath the driver's right buttock and thigh as he sits, legs spread to the clutch pedal (far left, part hidden in this shot) and the brake and throttle pedals (right).


Adjacent source of some of the brake dust which caked driver and navigator for that fashionable Panda-eye effect - inboard rear drum brakes on transaxle cheeks - see the parallel prop-shaft and gear-linkage runs...


How much once-raced charisma do you need? Pity about the Tupperware-look restoration...one day these giant corporations will learn, but it's almost too late already to preserve the few surviving originalities.


Not a car in which I have any interest - nor knowledge - but not your usual Gullwing...

All photos copyright: The GP Library

Sorry about the download time - no doubt Twinny could split these posts if required?

DCN

Un GRAND MERCI Doug

Thank you thousand times Doug, to make us divide these superb treasures of the Mercedes-benz museum where I do not think that I can go there a day. Thank you for sharing, once again !!

Best regards

I would love to in a position to view this display........

Great stuff, yet again Doug.

That miniature on top of the crates: from a distance it looks to be based on the 1908 Benz - is it a pedal car, or does it have working innards?

Beautiful!


Thank you Mr.Nye for sharing these with us!

Doug,

Great shots!

What I'd give for a day just taking it all in ......

Wow!

Originally posted by Vitesse2
That miniature on top of the crates: from a distance it looks to be based on the 1908 Benz - is it a pedal car, or does it have working innards?

Sorry don't know but I suspect it's just a pedal car.

DCN

....just watching the Italy v. USA game....and this thread has actually diverted my attention from it! Thanks indeed, Doug! Do we know actually how many cars the Museum has??

In best D-BAG style the press pack offers the following stats - 160 vehicles on display - comprising 80 cars, 40 commercial vehicles, 40 racing and record-breaking vehicles, 1 boat, 2 aircraft, 3 rail-borne vehicles and 19 assorted engines - in storage I have been told there could be in excess of 340 'potential' exhibit vehicles. Just one or two would do me, thank you - may I specify?

DCN

they can certainly store a couple of things round at my place too.

Just one or two would do me, thank you - may I specify?

Please do, Doug. The new Brooklands building looks pretty big, and it would seem that there is lots of good stuff hidden away in Germany that could find a good home in Weybridge....

I'm thinking quality, not quantity..........

I drive past Brooklands on my way to work every day, and have seen the systematic redevelopment evolve over a period of many months. Maybe it's time for Mercedes Benz to tell us what they have in mind for this important piece of real estate?...

Fascinating pictures Doug, in particular no. 3 which would appear to show an early attempt at a De Dion layout, before the definitive Uhlenhaut influenced torsion bar set-up used from 1937 on the W125.

This one shows 1/4 elliptic springs & friction dampers as used in the W25 with that curious tri-pod
affair added.

What an Alladin's cave of racing treasures. Marvellous ! Thank you most sincerely for sharing your photographs.

Originally posted by Doug Nye
.......- in storage I have been told there could be in excess of 340 'potential' exhibit vehicles. Just one or two would do me, thank you - may I specify?

DCN

I've cleared m'shed

Originally posted by roger ellis
Fascinating pictures Doug, in particular no. 3 which would appear to show an early attempt at a De Dion layout, before the definitive Uhlenhaut influenced torsion bar set-up used from 1937 on the W125.

This one shows 1/4 elliptic springs & friction dampers as used in the W25 with that curious tri-pod
affair added.

What an Alladin's cave of racing treasures. Marvellous ! Thank you most sincerely for sharing your photographs.

Many books tell you that the W125 brought the De Dion to Grand Prix racing, but they did it in 1936, albeit not so well.

I wonder if they have any clothed 1936 cars. To me they are one of the most beautiful of racing cars even if they weren't successful.

Roger, I have never seen this particular set-up before - it's not shown in either "Pom" or Cameron Earl.

Such an unusual lay-out though, I'm pleased DCN posted the picture.

Originally posted by roger ellis
Roger, I have never seen this particular set-up before - it's not shown in either "Pom" or Cameron Earl.

Such an unusual lay-out though, I'm pleased DCN posted the picture.

It is described by Karl Ludvigsen in "Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars":

"The axle was fabricated of steel tubing in the shape of a broad-topped Y. The upper arms of the Y reached out, in plan view, to the wheel hubs, while the tail extended rearward to a ball pivot anchored to the rear of the frame, which tapered inward to a point at that junction. this pivot provided one important location point, taking braking torque and transmitting drive thrust, but another means of guidance was needed for the lateral forces. This was supplied by a vertical fin fixed to the back of the transaxle casing. Within the crotch of the axle Y, riding up and down the sides of the fin, were two rubber-faced rollers which were attached to the axle tube."

The roller proved to be unreliable and: "In the course of the 1936 season the rollers were abandoned in favour of a steel-sided slot in the back of the transaxle, in which a bronze block attached to the crotch of the axle Y by a projecting ball pivot".

In August 1936, when the young Rudolf Uhlenhaut had been appointed as head of the new Rennabteilung, he famously decided to find out for himself all about the cars' handling by driving them at the Nurburgring: "The newer rear axle was judged "far superior" to the swing axle in both road holding and in acceleration response. Yet at the limit in turns it suffered from a 'terrible vibration' which stemmed from the flexibility of the axle tube itself, This was moderated by fitting bracing struts between the anchoring tail of the Y and the two arms at the hubs, and also by stiffening of the cars frame." You can see these struts in Doug's picture.

Immediately following these tests, Fritz Nallinger prepared a basic brief for the 1937 car, which included: "Rear Suspension: Retention of the present axle, yet with guidance of the axle toward the front instead of toward the rear." This was provided by the well-known single radius arms which led to the need for flexibility in the tube, achieved by making it in three parts, free to rotate on bronze bushes between them.

DCN et al...so pleased that companies/organisations see fit to preserve their heritage (got to get to Gaydon in this lifetime ).

I once visited the Ford Museum in Sacramento....and thought, well not everything here is my cuppa tea but bully for them! for preserving automotive icon/heritage stuff.

Everyone has their favourites and preferences, and M-B isn't on the top of my list...however...why did I stand for a full 15 minutes admiring this old bucket of bolts? (in the old museum)

It is described by Karl Ludvigsen in "Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars":

Roger thank you for your comprehensive post.

My missus is under the moon to find out there's yet another gap to fill in my library.

My gosh Doug, thank you so much.

Cris

Thanks for the pics - Doug. Very enjoyable and entertaining.

Your last picture shows the silver 1953 coupe of the 300 SL, of which two pre-production models had been shown to the press, one silver the other red. D.- B. modified 1952 300 SL cars for these pre-production types of the 1954 300 SL.

Thanks Doug for these beautifull pictures !

Hans : This special 300SL is a W194 type used in 1953 for intensive tests of disc brakes and Solex carburettors.

Are you sure they were two cars (red and silver) or is it the same car repainted ??
Thanks.

fantastic detail shots!