Maisto Mercedes Benz CLK GTR Road Version

I think few people would call the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR beautiful. Looks was not the reason I added this beast to my model garage, the reason is because the CLK GTR is such a rare bird, with only 35 build it is one of the rarest MB's. It was also one of the most expensive cars when it went on sale. Legend has it the MB bought a second hand McLaren F1 GTR to use in the development of the CLK GTR.My model is from Maisto, scale 1:18. The high light of this model is the detailed engine.

What I love about this car: The wheel design and that big fin.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Gull wing doors

Sleek does it

The Mighty 6.0l V12

The GLK GTR without it's rear engine cover

The CLK GTR must have one of the widest tail fins on any car.

Even though the FIA GT1 class was cancelled for 1999, Mercedes was obliged to finally deliver the required 25 road cars they had promised. An initial road car was built in 1997 in order to meet initial FIA requirements, but this car was retained by Mercedes. For the other 25 road cars, each was built by AMG at the Affalterbach factory between winter of 1998 and summer of 1999 and differed only slightly from the race car. All of the 25 CLK GTRs ever built were left hand drive except for one which was specially built for Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. Driver comfort and refinements were at a minimum in the construction of the road cars as Mercedes-Benz wished to not only offer customers a true race car, but also to attempt to keep the price low. Leather was used in the interior and an air conditioning system was offered. Two small storage lockers were also built underneath each upward swinging door. Traction control was also added for driver safety.

The car retained much of the design of the original CLK GTR instead of the CLK LM, including the V12 and many stylistic elements. One key difference was the rear wing, which used a hoop-style integrated wing in place of the separate racing wing. From the otherwise unrelated standard production Mercedes-Benz CLK, only the instrumentation, front grille and the four headlamps were used.

Ilmor Engineering provided enhancements to the engine, increasing displacement from 6.0L to 6.9L. This increase in displacement coupled with the removal of a racing air restrictor allowed for 612 PS (450 kW; 604 hp) and torque to 775 N·m (572 lb·ft). Mercedes-AMG claimed 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph).

The Guinness Book of World Records recorded the CLK GTR as the most expensive production car ever built at the time, with a price of $1,547,620(USD).

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Maisto Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

I did not think I would be buying another Mercedes model soon but when I saw how beautiful this Mercedes SLR McLaren was I could not resist buying it. It's 1:18 scale out of Maisto's Premier collection of die cast models. It makes me think of a Great White shark, big and powerful ready to annihilate anything in it's path. Compared to my other 1:18 cars it's quite a large vehicle. The detail is also very nice and I love the blue color. With only about 3500 'real' SLR's made I'm sure one day this will a very collectible car.

What I love about this car: The loooong nose, side intakes and of course the wheels.

Everything that opens and closes

The SLR got a very long nose.

I like the tail lights

The model  has a very detailed interior

Grand-daddy with Grand-son, 50 years apart.

Mighty 5.5 litre V8

Stunning wheels

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is grand tourer car jointly developed by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren Automotive, built in Portsmouth and the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England and sold from 2003 to 2009. When it was developed, German manufacturer Mercedes-Benz owned 40 percent of the McLaren Group.

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was inspired by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe & Racecar of 1955, which was a modified Mercedes-Benz W196 F1 race car. It was introduced on 17 November 2003. On 4 April 2008, Mercedes announced that they would cease production of the SLR. The last of the coupes rolled off the production line at the end of 2007 and the roadster version was discontinued in early 2008.

The SLR sports a 232 kg (510 lb) hand-built 5,439 cc (5.439 L; 331.9 cu in), supercharged, all-aluminium, SOHC, V8 engine. The cylinders are angled at 90 degrees with three valves per cylinder and lubricated via a dry sump system. The compression ratio is 8.8:1 and the bore and stroke is 97 mm × 92 mm (3.8 in × 3.6 in). The Lysholm-type twin-screw supercharger rotates at 23,000 rpm and produces 0.9 bar (13 psi) of boost. The compressed air is then cooled via two intercoolers. The engine generates a maximum power of 626 PS (460 kW; 617 hp) at 6,500 rpm and maximum torque of 780 N·m (580 lb·ft) at 3,250 to 5,000 rpm

Car and Driver achieved a 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) time of 3.4 seconds, and a quarter-mile time of 11.2 seconds at 130 mph (210 km/h) C&D suggests the times may be even lower if temperatures were lower. Motor Trend tested the SLR and achieved a 0-60 mph time of 3.3 seconds in April 2006. Car and Driver achieved top gear acceleration 30-50 mph and 50-70 mph times of 1.7 and 2.4 seconds, which are the fastest ever recorded by the magazine in a production car. The SLR also pulled 1.13 g on the skidpad.

Maisto 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé

My third Mercedes model is this '56 300 SLR, IMHO one of the greatest sport cars made. Originally only meant for the track a special two where made for the road. The model is from Maisto's Premier collection in scale 1:18. When I bought it there where two in the shop but one had a really nasty finger print on the paint job on the roof , lucky for me I spotted it. All in all it's a very nice model and well worth having.

What I love about this car: The red interior, the big engine and those side exhausts. 

MB 300 SLR

Interesting seat cover design :-)

Nice cockpit

Classic gull wing doors

Twin side exhausts

Straight 8 Cylinder Engine (2891 cc) Yes you have read correctly, straight 8!

The 300 SLR next to it's more famous sibling the 300 SL (left)

Of the nine W196s chassis built, one was destroyed in the Le Mans disaster. Prior to the accident Mercedes motorsport chief Rudolf Uhlenhaut had already ordered two to be set aside for modification into a sort of hybrid between the SLR and the SL, featuring a slightly widened version of the SLR's chassis with enclosed bodywork. The high sill beams of the spaceframe required the fitment of the same famous 'gull-wing' top-hinged doors of the other two types. For testing, and in preparation for a possible Mercedes participation in the 1956 race season, two road-legal SLRs were built. Due to Mercedes' planned withdrawal from competitive motorsport at the end of 1955, the programme was abandoned, leaving Uhlenhaut to use one of the cars as a company car. This prolonged road use required the fitting of an extra suitcase-sized muffler to the near-unsilenced exhaust pipes to avoid arrest for breach of the peace.

This Uhlenhaut Coupé was regarded as the world's fastest car in the 1950s, and it is rumoured that, running late for a meeting, Uhlenhaut exploited the unlimited autobahns to make today's two-and-a-half-hour journey from Munich to Stuttgart (approximately 137 miles/220 km) in just over an hour. The Uhlenhaut Coupe was road tested by the US magazine Motor Trend and by two English journalists from Automobile Revue at four o'clock in the morning on a closed section of motorway outside Munich. The latter wrote; "We are driving a car which barely takes a second to overtake the rest of the traffic and for which 120 mph on a quiet motorway is little more than walking pace. With its unflappable handling through corners, it treats the laws of centrifugal force with apparent disdain," after a total of more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km). His only regret was that this was a sports car "which we will never be able to buy and which the average driver would never buy anyway.".

Bburago 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupé

After I added the 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Touring to my collection I just had to have the coupe, a classic pair of one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Famously know as the Gullwing this must surely be one of the most beautiful and famous Mercedes of all time. This model, like my other 300 SL, is also made by Bburgo, scale 1:18, and finished in red. I would have preferred a red interior but the brown also looks good. 

Showing off the distinct Gullwing doors

Front View

Twins, '57 Roadster and '54 Coupe

Some stats
Engine - 2996 cc straight six
Power - 158 Kw / 274 Nm
Top speed ~ 260 km/h

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Bburargo 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Touring

My Xmas present this year was this stunning Bburgo 1:18 model of  a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL. One of the most sought after collectors cars the 300 SL is also known as the gull wing car although mine is a open top. The interior detail is really very high on a model of this price.

57 Mercedes Benz 300SL

The Mercedes-Benz 300SL was the first iteration of the SL-Class grand tourer convertibles and fastest production car of its day. Internally numbered W198, it was introduced in 1954 as a two-seat sports car with distinctive gull-wing doors and later offered as an open roadster.

Built by Daimler-Benz AG, the fuel-injected production model was based on the company's highly successful yet somewhat less powerful carbureted 1952 race car, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL (W194).

The idea of a toned-down W194 tailored to affluent performance enthusiasts in the booming post-war American market was suggested by Max Hoffman. As such, it was introduced at the 1954 New York Auto Show rather than the Frankfurt or Geneva shows other Mercedes models made their debuts at. The "300" in its name referred to its three litre engine displacement, and "SL" stood for "Sport Leicht" (Sport Light).

The 300SL was best known for its distinctive gull wing doors, first-ever consumer fuel-injection, and world's fastest top speed. The gull wing version was available from March 1955 to 1957, the roadster from 1958 to 1963. 

Wikipedia

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