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Mercedes-Benz SSK
 
 
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The Mercedes-Benz SSK is a roadster
Roadster

A roadster, also known as a spyder or spider, is a two-seater car, traditionally without a roof and no side or rear windows. Modern day two-seaters commonly have windows and feature retractable roofs ....
 built by German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coach es, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG , after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz....
 between 1928 and 1932. Its name is an acronym of Super Sport Kurz, with the last word being the German for "short", a reference to the fact that the car was based on the earlier Mercedes-Benz S, but with chopped from the chassis
Chassis

A chassis consists of a Frame that supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animal's skeleton, for example in a motor vehicle or a firearm....
 to make the car lighter and more agile for racing
Auto racing

Auto racing is a motorsport involving racing cars. It is one of the world's most watched television sports....
. It was the last and greatest car designed for the company by the brilliant engineer
Engineer

An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of engineering. Engineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints....
 Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche

Prof. Dr. Ing h.c. Ferdinand Porsche was an Austria-Hungary automotive engineering. He is best known for creating the Volkswagen Beetle as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles, and for his contributions to advanced German tank designs: Tiger I, Tiger II and the Elefant....
, before he left to pursue the foundation of his own company.






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The Mercedes-Benz SSK is a roadster
Roadster

A roadster, also known as a spyder or spider, is a two-seater car, traditionally without a roof and no side or rear windows. Modern day two-seaters commonly have windows and feature retractable roofs ....
 built by German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coach es, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG , after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz....
 between 1928 and 1932. Its name is an acronym of Super Sport Kurz, with the last word being the German for "short", a reference to the fact that the car was based on the earlier Mercedes-Benz S, but with chopped from the chassis
Chassis

A chassis consists of a Frame that supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animal's skeleton, for example in a motor vehicle or a firearm....
 to make the car lighter and more agile for racing
Auto racing

Auto racing is a motorsport involving racing cars. It is one of the world's most watched television sports....
. It was the last and greatest car designed for the company by the brilliant engineer
Engineer

An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of engineering. Engineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints....
 Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche

Prof. Dr. Ing h.c. Ferdinand Porsche was an Austria-Hungary automotive engineering. He is best known for creating the Volkswagen Beetle as well as the first of many Porsche automobiles, and for his contributions to advanced German tank designs: Tiger I, Tiger II and the Elefant....
, before he left to pursue the foundation of his own company. The SSK's extreme performance—with a top speed of up to , it was the fastest car of its day—and numerous competitive successes made it one of the most highly regarded sports cars of its era. The S/SS/SSK line was one of the nominees in the penultimate round of voting for the Car of the Century
Car of the Century

The Car of the Century was an international award given to the world's most influential car of the twentieth century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation....
 award in 1999, as chosen by a panel of 132 motoring journalists and a public internet vote.

Fewer than 40 SSKs were built during its production span, of which about half were sold as Rennwagen (racing cars). Fitted with a supercharged seven litre
Litre

The litre or liter is a unit of volume. There are two official symbols: the Latin letter L in lower and upper case . The lower case L is often written as a cursive l to avoid confusion with the number 1 in antiqua fonts....
 straight-6
Straight-6

The straight-6 or inline-6 engine is a six cylinder internal combustion engine with all six cylinder mounted in a straight line along the crankcase....
 engine
Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs in a combustion chamber inside and integral to the engine. In an internal combustion engine it is always the expansion of the high temperature and pressure gases that are produced by the combustion which apply force to the movable component of the engine, such as...
 producing and over of torque
Torque

Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis . Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
 (depending on the state of tune
Engine tuning

Engine tuning is the adjustment, modification or design of internal combustion engines to yield optimal performance, to increase an engine's power output, economy, or durability....
), it was driven to victory in numerous races, including the 1929 500 Miles of Argentina, the 1929 and 1930 Cordoba Grands Prix, the 1931 Argentine Grand Prix, and, in the hands of legendary Grand Prix racing driver
Grand Prix motor racing

Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to Endurance racing for car and driver....
 Rudolf Caracciola
Rudolf Caracciola

Rudolf Caracciola , was a racecar driver, nicknamed "Karratsch" in Germany.Caracciola, born at Remagen, Germany, to a hotelier family in the Rhine valley, was a champion racer in Europe in the Grand Prix motor racing era of the 1920s and 1930s, and even into the early 1950s....
, the 1929 British Tourist Trophy race, the 1930 Irish Grand Prix, the 1931 German Grand Prix, and the 1931 Mille Miglia
Mille Miglia

The Mille Miglia was an open-road endurance racing which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 .Like the older Targa Florio and later the Carrera Panamericana, the MM made Gran Turismo sports cars like Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati and Porsche famous....
.

Many were crashed while racing and subsequently cannibalised for parts, and as a result there are now almost 100 replica
Replica

A replica is a copy that is relatively indistinguishable from the original. Replicas are often used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum....
s using components donated from original vehicles. Only four or five entirely original models remain, and their scarcity and rich heritage make them among the most sought after cars in the world; a 1929 model was auction
Auction

An auction is a process of trade goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the winning bidder....
ed at Bonhams
Bonhams

Bonhams is a privately owned British auctioneer founded in 1793. It is the third largest auctioneer after Sotheby's and Christie's, and conducts around 700 auctions per year....
 in Chichester
Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city status in the United Kingdom in West Sussex, England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Ancient Rome past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings....
 in September 2004 for UK£
Pound sterling

----The pound sterling , subdivided into 100 pence , is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependency and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory....
4.17 million (US$
United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
7.4 million), making it the second most expensive automobile ever sold. Another SSK, a streamlined
Streamliner

A streamliner is any vehicle that incorporates streamline to produce a shape that provides less air resistance. The term is most often applied to certain high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "high-speed trains"....
 "Count Trossi"-bodied version owned and restored by fashion designer Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren is an United States fashion designer and business executive. He is most notable for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand....
, has won best of show at both the 1993 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California, considered the most prestigious event of its kind....
 and the 2007 Concorso D’Eleganza Villa d’Este.