A car winning a sustainability prize in a fashion show? As bizarre as it sounds, it actually happened. It was a Mercedes-Benz C 111 art car, based on a 190E sedan, with a body that seems to have bullet holes in it. But it is not what it seems.
Berlin-based sculptor Michael Sailstorfer came with a new take on the Mercedes-Benz C 111 iconic experimental concept from the late 1970s, also inspired by the carmaker’s decision to bring a modern version of it, the Vision One-Eleven Concept, this past summer.
However, the artist’s version is based on the 190E (W201), which is considered the grandfather of the C-Class sedan. The artist says that the 190E has been his dream car since his youth.
Sailstorfer took his art car to the 38th edition of the international festival of fashion in Hyeres, France, where it received the third Sustainability Prize. It displays a retro-futuristic design, reminiscent of the DMC DeLorean from Back to the Future film trilogy.
The model looks as if it has bullet holes in it. They are there to reflect the bulletproof reputation of the Mercedes-Benz M102 engine. The concept integrates sheet metal panel styling instead of the original fiberglass body and keeps the pop-up headlights of the original experimental car. And unlike the 190E that it is based on, it comes with gullwing doors.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
The cabin still sports the classic layout of the sedan, with things that purists miss today: simple physical knobs and analog gauges. The wood veneer finish also kept its ground on board.
There is no word on what powers this full-of-bullet-holes art car. But the Mercedes-Benz 190E had a four-cylinder, eight-valve, 2.0-liter naturally aspirated engine, which generated 116 horsepower (118 PS) and 127 lb-ft (172 Nm) of torque.
The 16 Mercedes-Benz C 111 experimental cars that the premium carmaker built back in the 1970s also came with some very interesting powertrains. The first of them was powered by a three-rotor fuel-injection Wankel engine codenamed M950F.
The next version sported a four-rotor engine, which delivered 345 horsepower (350 PS). The car could reportedly hit 186 kph (300 kph). Keep in mind, it was 1970. And that was just the beginning. Mercedes kept experimenting and even put diesel power units in the car to check how they acted.
By the end of the 1970s, Mercedes mounted a 4.8-liter twin KKK-turbocharged V8 engine under the elongated hood of the experimental car. The model then got 500 horsepower (507 PS). On May 5, 1979, the engineers set it free on the Nardo Ring in Nardo, Italy. With Dr. Hans Liebold behind the wheel, it hit an average lap speed of 250.958 mph (403.78 kph) and covered the lap in 1 minute 56.67 seconds.
Google News