Wankel-engined Mercedes

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31989, 16 May 1969, Page 9

Wankel-engined Mercedes

A Wankel-engined Mercedes sports car may be announced at the Frankfurt motor show in September, the West German Feature Service says.

Mercedes engineers have been working on the Wankel engine for eight years. The company at the moment will admit only that work on Wankel projects is in progress, but it has not denied that in the case of one engine model test-bed trials have been completed and a car prototype is

now undergoing road tests. Speculation about the rumoured new car has gone a long way, the feature service says. It is said the new car will have a three-unit Wankel engine giving the equivalent of 3.6-litre displacement and producing about 260 b.h.p., which could later be increased to 340 b.h.p. by the addition of a fourth unit.

Details of the existing engine suggest the new sports car will have a top speed of between 157 m.pli. and 175 m.p.h. The body is said to be

very low, and aerodynamically styled. West German correspondents do say that if the new model is announced, it will not go into series production. There will be a small production run, and customers will be able to make special orders.

The main patent on Felix Wankel’s rotary piston engine expires in three years, and it has been suggested that Mercedes view the sports model largely as a test-bei and plan to make extensive

use of Wankel engines in the future.

Other manufacturers, both in Germany and in other countries, are also believed to be waiting until the patents expire in 1972.