The first thing to know about the Mercedes SSK’s were that only forty were ever built. Today’s replicar models are called the Gazelles and while there’s some disagreement as to what company built the first Gazelle replicar, Tiffany Motor Cars does appear to be the first company to advertise them. SSK was an abbreviation for Super Sport Kurz or Super Sport Short.
1929 Mercedes Gazelle SSK
It’s thought today that only five of these original Mercedes SSK models survive. As you can imagine they rank at the top for car collectors. These are some of the most revered sports cars in all the world and are as close to priceless as you can get.
The Mercedes SSK was designed by Ferdinand Porshe with a six cylinder supercharged engine putting out 300 horsepower. This made the Mercedes SSK one of the fastest cars in the world. The SSK models were essentially a shorter and lighter version of the Mercedes S model. Along with being one of the world’s fastest sports cars it also was one of the world’s most beautiful. The car was a masterful piece of work by Porshe before he eventually went on and began his own auto company.
Daimler-Benz and Ferdinand Porsche During the 1920’s
The creation of the Mercedes SSK as shown in the 1929 Mercedes Gazelle replicar featured in this article goes back to Daimler’s racing efforts during the mid 1920’s.
In 1923 Ferdinand Porsche left the Austro-Daimler organization and moved to Stuttgart where he joined the Daimler German company. Daimler in Germany had entered a supercharged racer in the 1923 Indy 500 which did not perform. It failed so bad that Porsche took on the task of correcting the supercharged car so that Daimler wouldn’t have to go through that embarrassment again.
Mercedes Gazelle dashboard
As strange as it might sound, Germany had some eighty six separate automobile companies in 1924. This was a mere five years after the end of World War One.
The only possible outcome would be consolidation and this did involve Daimler. Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz et Cie signed an “Agreement of Mutual Interest.” Two years later, in June of 1926 this association became an official merger which formed the new company Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft. The hyphenated brand name Mercedes-Benz was established after the merger.
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