Mercedes-Benz W160

The Mercedes-Benz W 160, called the Type 400 VM, was the prototype of an upper class car that Daimler-Benz built in 1938. The technical director Hans Gustav Rohr, who died in August 1937, had still designed it but did not live to see the prototypes built. Its long-stroke V8 engine had overhead valves, displaced 4,003 cubic centimetres and developed 110 PS, about 81 kilowatts, at 3,500 revolutions a minute. A four-speed gearbox with the lever in the middle of the car drove the rear wheels, which hung on a coil-sprung swing axle, while the front axle also had coil springs and double wishbones. The wheelbase was 3,300 millimetres, and eight test cars of this car, which reached 130 kilometres an hour, were built. The Type 400 V and the Type 400 VMS were similar cars that differed from the 400 VM only in chassis, engine and gearbox.