Mercedes-Benz W157

The Mercedes-Benz W 157, short for the Mercedes-Benz 600 K, was the prototype of a large sports car that Daimler-Benz designed and built in 1941 and 1942. Shortly before the Second World War the company had planned a large twelve-cylinder car, after a Type 540 K with a V12 engine had already appeared in 1937, and the prototypes were meant to succeed the Type 580 K. The elegant car, on a wheelbase of 3,280 or 3,415 millimetres, was to come as a four-seat sports saloon, a coupe, a roadster or a two-door cabriolet. Twelve prototypes were made, with a supercharged V12 engine of 6,020 cubic centimetres that gave 155 PS without the switchable Roots blower and 240 PS, about 176 kilowatts, with it. Top speed was given as 190 kilometres an hour. A further twelve prototypes of a large saloon and cabriolet, called the 600 V and 600 K and given the type number W 148, were built alongside. Adolf Hitler declined to take two of the twelve-cylinder cars as official cars and forbade further development of luxury cars, which he no longer thought timely.