Star moments at Pebble Beach Automotive Week 2024: Mercedes-Benz C 111-II with Wankel engine and 100-year-old Mercedes Targa Florio racing car on the road

• Mercedes-Benz led the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance with three vehicles: Targa Florio racing car (1924), C 111-II (1970) and Mercedes-AMG GT 63 4MATIC+ (2024)
• Sandra Button: “Mercedes-Benz Classic brings history back to life.”
• World premieres of the Mercedes-Maybach SL and GT3 Edition 130Y Motorsport
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum to sell its original W 196 R in a few months
• Current photos from the event: me/xW2GE7mF

Running again: The C 111 super sports car with a rotary piston engine is back on the road. Even at its world premiere in September 1969, it caused a considerable stir. At Pebble Beach Automotive Week from 15 to 18 August, 2024, the experimental vehicle, which was never built in series, once again caused a sensation among the public.

“We are extremely grateful that Mercedes-Benz Classic entered an original C 111 with a Wankel engine in our featured class ‘Wedge Shaped Concept Cars & Prototypes’ of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2024. It’s really a cornerstone of that type of design. There’s so much history embodied in this car – it’s still just as significant today as it has been in its youth. Mercedes-Benz Classic brings history back to life.” 
Sandra Button, Chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

“The Mercedes Targa-Florio racing car with supercharged engine from 1924 and the Mercedes-Benz C 111-II with Wankel engine from 1970 are examples of how our company continues to push technical boundaries in the areas of engine technology and lightweight construction: Open to new technologies, the engineers exhausted the feasibility of the respective eras in both vehicles. This remains our guideline for all vehicles with the three-pointed star.” 
Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH

A 1970 C 111-II from the company’s own collection led the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance on 15 August, together with the 100-year-old Mercedes 2-litre Targa Florio racing car and a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 4MATIC+ (combined energy consumption: 14.1 l/100 km | CO₂ emissions combined: 319 g/km | CO₂ class: G*). For this purpose, the experts at Mercedes-Benz Classic had resurrected the original, well-preserved four-rotor Wankel engine of the C 111-II. The super sports car brilliantly completed the 100-kilometre route on Highway 1 to Big Sur and back.

At the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, 18 August, the sports coupé was in the special class “Wedge Shaped Concept Cars & Prototypes” – outside the classification.

The pictures of the event can be found here: mb4.me/xW2GE7mF

Also on display at the event was an original 1955 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R, which the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum will have auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at the Mercedes-Benz Museum towards the end of 2024. Experts see a potential record bid for the vehicle. After Pebble Beach Automotive Week 2024, the Formula One race car will receive a manufacturer’s expertise at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Fellbach.
More details: media.mercedes-benz.com/article/f7cbe8be-0bf1-4099-b0ab-b59d0c6bd3b0

Two Mercedes-Benz world premieres in the classic car environment

The new Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series celebrated its world premiere (provisional figures, combined energy consumption: 13.7 l/100 km | CO₂ emissions combined: 312 g/km | CO₂ class: G).^[1] The brand continues the tradition of the Maybach Motorenbau company with glamorous automobiles. The new sports car of the absolute luxury class impressed the guests on the “Concept Lawn” of the Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Mercedes-Benz also paid tribute to the anniversary “130 years of Motorsport” at Pebble Beach this year. The chronological reference for the motor racing anniversary is the first automotive competition, which led from Paris to Rouen on 22 July 1894 and ended with a victory for vehicles with Daimler licensed engines. To mark this historic milestone, the limited Mercedes-AMG GT3 Edition 130Y Motorsport celebrated its world premiere in Pebble Beach.

The brand’s motorsport history was also honored by an impressive line-up of historic motorsport vehicles at Pebble Beach. It included a Mercedes-Benz W 154 (1939) and W 196 R (1955) formula racing cars as well as the Penske-Mercedes PC 23 (1994). Also on display were 300 SL racing sports cars (W 194, 1952), 300 SL “Gullwing” (W 198, 1954 to 1957), Sauber-Mercedes C 9 (1989), and CLK-GTR (C 297, 1998). Further information on 130 years of motorsport from Mercedes-Benz: 
media.mercedes-benz.com/article/764f404c-7ea6-4d60-8e4a-608a511301ff

Standard work on the development history of the C 111 is published in English

We will have to wait until 28 March 2025, when the standard work on the development history of the C 111 published by Mercedes-Benz Classic will finally be available in English. The extended English-language version “C 111 – The Definitive History of the Mysterious Supercar that never was” can already be pre-ordered from Schiffer Publishing at schifferbooks.com/products/mercedes-benz-c-111?_pos=1&_sid=ae87fdeca&_ss=r.

The German edition of Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, can be ordered here:
www.mercedes-benz-classic-store.com/bibliothek/buecher/4017/mercedes-benz-c111-design-ikone-traumsportwagen-und-rekordjaeger

Further information on the highlight vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Classic in Pebble Beach:

• Mercedes 2-litre Targa Florio racing car, 1924: 100 years ago, it won the Targa Florio, the legendary, tough road race in Sicily. Mercedes-Benz Classic has painstakingly restored an original vehicle with the utmost authenticity. More details: mercedes-benz.com/article/fc1da7e6-20ef-4b42-8217-0421a2641b95

• Mercedes-Benz C 111-II experimental vehicle, 1970: The 300 km/h, futuristic super sports car with a four-rotor Wankel engine thrills fans of the brand. The Classic Center has brought the experimental vehicle back to life. More details: mercedes-benz.com/article/d35ee4b4-5273-40c9-a712-e59a0e9aed69

^[1] The figures are preliminary. So far, there are no confirmed values from an officially recognised testing organisation, nor an EC type approval or a certificate of conformity with official values. Deviations between the information and the official values are possible.