AUTOCULT - MERCEDES BENZ - 150H SPORT LIMOUSINE N 366 GERMANY 1934

Built for Racing Characteristically for the 1934 Mercedes-Benz Type 150 was its straight behind both front seats positioned engine. At that time the mid-engine concept was extremely rare and not very popular. After the W 30 the Type 150 was the second version of Mercedes-Benz, which had its engine positioned as far as possible toward the center of the vehicle. Surely, this position of the engine made the car definitely not suited for mass production, but for use in racing it proved to be helpful. Advantage of the mid-engine concept was a balanced weight distribution of the vehicle, which allowed a sportier drive. Exactly for this purpose (racing) six sports cars were built at the plant of Mercedes-Benz. All of them were built to compete in the vehicle class “V” in the second edition of the race “2000 km durch Deutschland” (2000 km of Germany). On July 21, 1934, at 5:35 am, all six unique copies went to the starting line. All models were fitted with a 1.5 liter, water-cooled ohv four-stroke engine with a performance of 55 hp; an engine that was closely related to the engine of the Type 130. Four drivers finished their race with a gold medal. After the 2000 km of Germany the cars competed in another race in August 1934; the rally Liège-Rome-Liège. The driver Hans-Joachim Bernet led the field between Rome and Pisa and completed the section perfectly with the score of “zero penalty points”. Despite this extraordinary achievement, together with the four golden honors of the 2000 km of Germany race, Mercedes-Benz had no use for the six cars after these races. In the end all vehicles were destroyed. Several parts of the bodies and the chassis were reused for the development of the new roadster version, which came on the market in 1935.