#Mercedes’ “Blue Wonder” transporter carrying a W196 at the
1955 Monaco Grand Prix. Back in the
1950s, the #Mercedes Benz Formula 1 team used a custom built car hauler that was powered by the same engine used in their 300 SL Gullwing. The called in The Blue Wonder, and they weren’t kidding.
The first ‘Blue Wonder’ was built at the request of racing manager Alfred Neubauer back in the mid
1950s, and it served #Mercedes-Benz for more than a decade. Its swoopy design belies the fact that this is a massive vehicle. It’s 6. 75-meters long and two-meters-wide. The transporter was built up on a lengthened tubular frame from the #Mercedes-Benz 300 S luxury coupe of the same era. It was motivated by a three-liter inline-six with direct-injection that was lifted directly from the legendary 300 SL Gullwing sports car of
1955. Other components, like the doors, fenders and some of the interior bits were taken from the standard #Mercedes-Benz 180 sedan. After #Mercedes-Benz pulled out of racing at the end of
1955 following the Le Mans tragedy from the previous June, the ‘Blue Wonder’ was used as an exhibition vehicle in the USA. After that it was used for ten years by the #Mercedes-Benz test department. For unknown reasons, the great Rudolf Uhlenhaut, one of the greatest racing engineers ever, and manager of the motor sports department during the transporter’s racing period, had the Blue Wonder model scrapped in
1967. Decades later, #Mercedes came to their senses and rebuilt the racing car hauler using archive photographs. 1955 Monaco Grand Prix, Circuit de Monaco# Daimler AG
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