Another example of Merc precision. They wouldn't have given him permission to represent them, if he hadn't got this enormous product confidence and knowledge. Considering Merc is trusting this one-off model into the hands of somebody else than a Merc expert, the whole situation is very relaxed and highly enjoyable to watch. Wouldn't trust it to be lent to the "ex-Top Gear" mob.
+Lazy Game Reviews It's always a cool moment when you find out that one of your favorite channels on RU-vid is subscribed to another one of your favorite channels. lol
Hey, Clint. Nice to see you subscribed here. I knew you were to other car channels you mentioned in a previous video, but this is my favorite. He talks about all cars from classics like this to supercars.
I was sure I missed this one too, until he mentioned the Nardo-testings. Then I remembered reading about it in the Guinness Book of Records. Now I have seen one .
It's like a greenhouse, just look at it! It gets WARM inside that car. Only Italians are enthusiasts enough to sit in a car like that without A/C (and without a radio reciever, for that matter ...)
Maybe but the *1940 Packard* was the first car to offer factory-installed air-conditioning. The *1953 Chrysler Imperial* was one of the first production cars in twelve years to offer modern automobile air conditioning as an option, following tentative experiments by already-mentioned Packard in 1940 and *Cadillac* in 1941. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KQ77pSVyCik.html&app=desktop Walter Chrysler had seen to the invention of *Airtemp* air conditioning in the 1930s for the *Chrysler Building* , and had offered it on cars in 1941-42, and again in 1951-52.
@@christopetkov4168 bruh, his voice was _dead_ consistent throughout the video, and his responses were crisp and clear with not stuttering or pauses. That takes a lot more than just a quick study session the night before.
The fellow, Constantin, who is with Mr Leno, seems pretty knowledgeable about Mercedes history and certainly this car..... for his age. He has had a few guys show up who were like car salesman in the past. Knowing about the specifics of this car and having some personality in speaking about it, makes this another really GOOD video.
ToxicDonut81 Oh yeah, I agree, but theres this one video Jay did a while back, I think it was on the new Corvette (don't quote me on that) but the guy GM sent for that one seemed to be something of an idiot. He said his job there was "the driver" sounds like a minimal job title to me, and his knowledge of the car showed, couldn't really go by his word in that video. This guy on the other hand is a relief!
+Mickey Cook I've met with Constantin and he (as well as the people he works with at the Classics Center) is that knowledgeable about all the cars they have there - and they have a lot of oddities in the MB lineup at the center in Irvine. And most of the techs and engineers that work there have their own cool classics as daily drivers. This one is truly one of my favorite cars... I wish they would have a modern successor.
+Mickey Cook Well stated. This is a great episode and the dialogue was as interesting as the car. And what a timeless design. It seems strange that after the huge effort put into it that they didn't work out the remaining issues and take some version of it to market. Especially considering folks were throwing blank checks at them!
I had a model of this car when I was a kid. I adored it everyday, it was my most favorite car in collection. So happy to see it in this video. Thanks Jay!!!
Me too. It was in this same color. Cabal was really short (maybe about 1.2 m), It was the first toy car I had. That was in the seventies of the last century. As I write this, I remember those times with sadness. How happy the children were with the little things. Everything is different now. The last thing I remember driving a car was when there was a Live Aid concert in 1985. I was watching Live Aid broadcast live from London and Philadelphia (it said Color on the TV). After that, I don't remember what happened. What beautiful times.@@marioseoul
I love the way even Mercedes prototypes from the 70's were just as well engineered and built as their production cars of the period. When Jay closed the gullwing door, halfway through the road test, it still shut with that reassuring thunk, you'd expect from an S-Class. Sounds nice too, it's just a shame they never put it into even a limited production.
I remember when a C111 came to Costa Rica in the early 70's, it was showed at the MB dealer just in front of the main street at the capital. I was around 7 years old but I knew (thanks to Grandpa and uncle Alberto) how interesting this car was. The metallic orange color was perfect for that car. The interior was something out of this world. I also remember that it had huge rear wheels, bigger than the ones on the car in this video. Still, in my opinion, a great design!
I don’t think there is a more deserving person than Jay to get to drive all these iconic cars because he knows about them from nostalgia. He learned about them and one day hoped and inspired to drive them, and big ups to the Mercedes Classic Center and all the similar organizations that support Jay and allow them to showcase their vehicles on this channel because Jay and they are sharing them with all of us in this channel who would never know about them much less see them in action without their joint efforts. Really wonderful stuff, I was in awe looking at the rear quarter panel angle of this car driving on the freeway, while reminiscent of the M1, it looked like something from another galaxy.
Nice! Mine came with a blue MB 350SL, silver Lamborghini Miura, green GT70 & a pink Bertone Beachbuggy. I still have everything except the buggy (stolen) & sadly my CIII lost its doors...
I had it as a remote control (on a cable and with batteries in the control unit). It even popped the lights and they had working little bulbs inside. Best toy ever at night for a six year old boy!
I well remember the C111 when it debuted and was on the cover of Road & Track magazine. I was 22 or 23 then. Today, most young people would not know what this car is or it's history. I can just about imagine in SoCal traffic, this time machine goes past them with the European Plates, and they gawk and see that MB star and say WTF is that? A Benz? When did they build that? Never saw one before... You gotta love it. BTW - I was an avid Road & Track / Car & Driver magazine reader in the late '50s through the 1960s and up to the mid-'70s. I owned and drove a 1963 Austin Healey 3000, a 1956 Jaguar Xk 140, A 1959 Morgan Roadster, and a 1987 Jaguar XJS V12 Coupe. Great times and lots of Adventures back then. Sports cars were affordable, and each marque had its quirks and faults, but you still drove them, loved them, protected them, and lovingly maintained them. It was all about the experience on the road and the way each one felt to you. It was the road feel in the Steering Wheel, the sound of the engine as you shifted gears and heard the engine grumble and babble, and felt the wind in your face, sometimes the rain too and if you were like me back then, you were a different breed of cat who did your own things and didn't really care what other people thought or said about sport car people or their cars. Kids in `55, 56, 57 Chevys with loud exhaust pipes in the mid-1960s thought they were cool - until you happened to pull next to them in a gorgeous red Jaguar XK 140 with chrome knock-off wire wheels, driving lights, a real leather interior, and that rear placard that read WINNER Le MANs 51-53. What an Era. Loved every minute of it.
I too owned a pretty fair share of sports cars in the early 70's and each of them had some outstanding attributes and a ridiculous fault or two. You delt with the faults and revelled in the attributes. The likes of which you couldn't imagine if raised with Detroit iron as the family cars. Experienced automotive quirks i never dreamed existed with British sports cars and aside from my 427 Corvette my greatest enlightenment came behind the wheel of my Alfa Romeo and my Peugeot. This where i discovered the expectations of the French and the Italians. Contrary to popular opinion i found the build quality abd engineering of my '66 Alfa roadster to be exceptional. Ah, and the Peugeot. What to say about the beloved 1970 504? Even including the experience of spinning a rod bearing the Peugeot taught me so much about the comfort, handling, smoothness of a well balanced precision built engine. Even the durability of the era's most popular car for the primative African conditions.
WOW! I have never seen this car before, I have fallen in love with it instantly. It looks like a DeLorean but from a few years back, I hope Mercedes makes a supercar which resembles this. Great vid as usual Jay, massive fan of the show :)
I was in Germany on the autobahn in 1971 when 2 of these blasted by at 200 KPH. On the way to the Geneva Car show. AND they were driving them there. AT SPEED. With the AC on. Wow. Some prototype.
This has to be one of THE most informative automotive show of ALL TIME. Every new video showcases something either extremely rare, a special edition or just has something that any person can learn about. You don't have to be a car nut to appreciate a show as simple and as dedicated to automobiles as this one. Good job Jay and thank you!
Well arent i lucky because i live in Finland and i will also not get shot to death for making a cocktail, yes i am underage but i still can oractice my skills.
I was present at the Hockenheimring in 1970 when MB had three C-111's with four rotor Wankel engines there for tire testing. The engineers allowed me to wander around the pits and take a lot of photos. Finally, one of the engineers offered to take me for a lap. Wonderful cars. Too bad MB never put them into production.
Thanks to Jay and MB for sharing this piece of history. I had seen it in the recent MB commercial where they flash through all the models (incl. F1 etc.) and it really caught my eye, recalled it from some lost memory of car books and diecasts. What an amazing car for its time, or any time for that matter. Hats off to all involved!
+SBäB Dii But where you can drive unlimited speeds on the autobahn, I think it's a major plus. You can technically drive 190 mph, though, those speeds are tough to attain considering other traffic.
+PureDetroit Sure does! I'm from NH and we need a front plate too. I've got mine zip-ties to the lower front grill of my G8 so I can clip it off for shows and stuff. I'm planning on installing one of those brackets that you can flip down and slide under. They even make automatic ones that hide when parked and come back out when you turn the car on
+The_Doctors_Tardis Its a recurring problem that Jay and his team never addressed when this series started. This video is another good example how Jays voice is muffled up and low in volume. While his guests volume is clear and balanced with the car's noise. Its has always been like that. *I wonder how Jay as a talk show host, ever get to host any show at all if his voice remains so low. Its really stupid that this problem can easily be addressed, yet it was never solved since day one.*
+The_Doctors_Tardis Ive seen people say this for a while and ive never had this problem. I use a decent pair of headphones though. So im just wondering If you use speakers or headphones?
Just to show how german Mercedes-Benz is, those pedals are exactly the same as in my W124. They used those for at least 4 decades... If it works well, don't change it...
Yeah, no doubt, the car's on loan from a 'benz museum, and, basically, priceless! Wouldn't be surprised if the guy driving the van had a gun... seriously.
I lived in Germany, when this car was announced. They planned to make only 50 pieces. As this video shows, in those times a lot of changes and the car was never produced. Later in the eighties, I used to work in the airport and saw this very car on a pallet at Lufthansa. The Germans were guarding it but I had to do something. I put my finger on it :-) That was as close as I could get to this dream car.
There you go. That's Merc for you - always years ahead in thinking and design.I remember when it showed on the Frankfurt Motor Show 1969, the Boeing 747 was on the way with Lufthansa being one of the launch customers, the ICE High Speed trains were on the drawing board and the oil crisis miles behind the horizon. Germany was going to host the Olympics in 1972 and the Football World Cup in 1974. In politics the conservative parties were crumbling and the 2 Germanies were starting to talk to each other more seriously.Anything was practically possible from now on - except Merc didn't launch the C-111 into mass production.
+Jesse Crandle Colin Chapman was a Partner in Delorean....not exactly ripping anybody off...when you're that guy that's "Being Ripped off"....Google is your friend...unless you make stupid comments before you look up facts....DUH
As a kid in Yugoslavia, I got one of these for a birthday. It was a 1:12 scale, plastic, pop-up lights operated from inside of cockpit by a lever, 6 way remote control, with "remote" being comands connected to a car via 1m wire cord.
