Mercedes-Benz SSK

Mercedes-Benz SSK at a glance

From the Model K to the SSK

The SSK was the last step in a line of large supercharged sports cars. It began with the Mercedes-Benz Typ 630, whose short-wheelbase version was called the Model K, for kurzer Radstand. In 1927 the Model S ("Sport") followed on the basis of the K, then the SS ("Super Sport"). The SSK shortened the S chassis by 19 in (480 mm) to make a lighter, more agile car for racing and hill climbs.

Ferdinand Porsche was responsible for the design. It was his last work for Mercedes-Benz before he left to start his own engineering company, the story told in our history of Porsche. The company background, from the first Benz and Daimler cars to the merger of 1926 that created the Mercedes-Benz name, is in our history of Mercedes-Benz.

Supercharged straight-six

The engine was the M06, a straight-six of 7,069 cc with a single overhead camshaft. A supercharger added boost on demand. The driver engaged it by pressing the accelerator fully down and then pushing it further; easing off the pedal disengaged it again. Depending on tune, English Wikipedia gives 200–300 metric hp, or 147–221 kW, and more than 680 Nm (500 lb-ft) of torque.

That output, with a kerb weight of 1,700 kg, means about 86 to 130 kW per tonne. Our power-to-weight calculator runs the same sum for any car. English Wikipedia credits the SSK with up to 200 km/h (125 mph) and describes it as the fastest car of its day.

The gearbox was a four-speed manual without synchromesh. The engine sat at the front, mounted behind the front axle, and drove the rear wheels. The roadster body was 4,240 mm long and 1,700 mm wide on a 2,950 mm wheelbase.

Engines of the W 06 family

German Wikipedia covers the whole family under its works code, W 06, and gives figures for each stage. The supercharger, a Roots blower, was meant for short bursts on the road cars, so each engine has two ratings.

The overhead camshaft was driven by a vertical shaft, each cylinder had two spark plugs fed by a battery and a magneto, and two updraught carburettors supplied the mixture. The SSKL racing engine used a 7:1 compression ratio, and its blower ran all the time, so its unsupercharged rating was theoretical. The displacement in German Wikipedia, 7,065 cc, differs slightly from the 7,069 cc in English Wikipedia; the top speeds of the road SSK there are also lower than the 200 km/h quoted in English.

All versions had a pressed-steel frame with a U-section, rigid axles on semi-elliptic springs and cable-operated drum brakes on all four wheels.

S, SS, SSK: the family

German Wikipedia counts 146 Type S, 111 Type SS and 33 SSK cars as originally built, just under 300 W 06 cars in all; some S and SS cars were later converted at the factory to SS and SSK specification. The SSKL ("Kurz Leicht", short and light) was 125 kg lighter than the SSK and was created by converting SSK cars; Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld gave one of them its aerodynamic body. On 22 May 1932 Manfred von Brauchitsch won the international race at the Avus in Berlin in an SSKL, ahead of Caracciola. The 500 K replaced these sports cars in 1934.

Racing record

The SSK was built to race. Rudolf Caracciola won the 1929 Ulster Tourist Trophy on the Ards circuit, the 1930 Irish Grand Prix, and in 1931 both the German Grand Prix and the Mille Miglia. The car also won the 500 Miles of Argentina and the Córdoba Grand Prix in 1929, the Córdoba Grand Prix again in 1930 and the Argentine Grand Prix in 1931.

The racing life explains why so few complete cars remain. About half the SSKs were sold as Rennwagen, racing cars, and many were crashed and later cannibalised for parts. English Wikipedia counts only four or five entirely original examples.

Recognition and famous cars

The S, SS and SSK line reached the penultimate round of voting for the 1999 Car of the Century award, decided by a panel of 132 motoring journalists and a public internet vote. The streamlined "Count Trossi" SSK, owned and restored by Ralph Lauren, won best of show at the 1993 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and at the 2007 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. When a 1929 car was sold by Bonhams at Chichester in September 2004, it became the second most expensive car sold at auction up to that time. In popular culture, Lupin III, the title character of the Japanese Lupin the Third series, often drives an SSK.

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