1970 MERCEDES-BENZ
TYPE C 111-II EXPERIMENTAL VEHICLE
Meant to test new technologies, the first C 111 was completed in 1969 and featured a wedge-shaped fiberglass body and mid-mounted, three-rotor Wankel fuel-injected engine. Bruno Sacco’s design for the C 111, seen as the successor to the 300 SL, included gullwing doors. Even as the C 111 was introduced to the public, engineers were already at work on an improved version, the C 111-II, which received a four-rotor Wankel engine and sleeker aerodynamic styling that lowered its drag coefficient to 0.325. This V-8 variant of the C 111-II was used by Mercedes-Benz engineers and technicians for comparison with the rotary-engined version. Despite numerous “blank check” orders received from the public, the C 111 remained an experimental vehicle and never entered series production.
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