Autoworld, Brussels.
Shame the chrome was a bit dirty!
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Engine: Four Rotor Wankel, 370 Bhp
The C111 was a series of experimental automobiles produced by Mercedes-Benz in the 1960s and 1970s. The company was experimenting with new engine technologies, including Wankel engines, Diesel engines, and turbochargers, and used the basic C111 platform as a testbed. Other experimental features included gullwing doors and a luxurious interior with leather trim and air conditioning.
The first version of the C111 was completed in 1969. It used a fiberglass body shell and had a three-rotor direct fuel injected Wankel engine (code named M950F) mounted in the middle. The next C111 appeared in 1970. It used a four-rotor engine producing 370 hp (275 kW). The car could reportedly hit 290 km/h (180 mph).
The company decided not to adopt the Wankel engine and turned to Diesel experiments for the third C111. With its 230 horsepower (170 kW) @ 4,400-4,600 5-speed manual straight-5 turbo-Diesel, the C111 broke nine diesel and gas speed records. With more aerodynamic bodywork that gave it an air drag coefficient of an incredible .191, the C111 eventually hit 200 mph (322 km/h) at Nardò in 1978, and averaged 14.7mpg@ 316 km/h (195.4 mph) over a 12 hour cruise. A later 500 hp (372 kW) 4.8 L twin KKK-turbocharged V8 version set another record, with an average lap-speed of 403.78 km/h (250.958 mph). It was achieved by Dr. Hans Leibold in 1 minute, 56.67 seconds on May 5, 1979. [Wikipedia]
Pic Taken at Autoworld, Brussels
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The Citroën DS is an automobile which was manufactured and marketed by the French company Citroën from 1955 to 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative technology, including a hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension.
The DS advanced achievable standards in automobile ride quality, handling, and braking. Citroën sold nearly 1.5 million D-series during the model's 20-year production run. The DS came in third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, recognizing the world's most influential auto designs, and was named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine. [Wikipedia]
Autoworld Brussels
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The AMC AMX/3 was a mid-engine sports car from the American carmaker American Motors Corp, developed by Giotto Bizzarrini. It was designed as a production model, but shortly before the start of production AMC ended the project. A derivation of the AMX / 3 was the Bizzarrini Sciabola, this being one of only a few surviving examples.
The history of the AMX/3:-
The AMX/2 Styling prototype was designed by Richard Teague to participate in a call for designs from AMC. Others participated in this call for designs including Bizzarrini. [Other sources indicate that Giorgetto Giugiaro built a styling mockup, which was never shown to the public]. The Teague design won by a long shot and was approved to the prototype stage.
BMW was contacted to construct the prototypes, but was not chosen because of their elevated prices, so AMC asked Giotto Bizzarrini, a top race car engineer and builder, if he would do the prototypes. AMC also considered having Karmann in Germany build the car. Giotto was contracted for ten prototypes and the follow on construction. Apparently the top brass at AMC felt unsure about the prospect of building a mid-engined car, and just when the first prototype was mostly completed a construction problem appeared suddenly. The English to Metric conversions from the drawings were incorrect and the car could not be completed to a driving state. This car was utilised as a push-mobile used for shows only as it was cosmetically correct. The next 4 cars were completed with proper conversions. The research that followed was conducted by AMC in the U.S. as well as by BMW and Turin Polytechnic in Europe.
About this time (late 1969) AMC learned about Ford's work with DeTomaso and the Pantera. Result: AMC introduced the AMX/3 at auto shows around the world one full year before Ford introduced the Pantera. Designers from other makers were shocked and amazed by the car, with some refusing to believe that AMC designed it.
Testing results started to come in from BMW and Turin Polytech, and BMW proclaimed the body assembly (a boxed sill backbone structure) one of the most rigid chassis that they had ever tested. Speed runs were limited to 160 M.P.H. due to body lifting because of the lack of a front spoiler. There were some cooling problems, and modifications were made to cars 2, 3, 4 and 5 and retrofitted to car 1 later in 1970. Meanwhile AMC ordered 5 more prototypes and Giotto began construction.
Ultimately, AMC found that the car would have to sell for more than $12,000; even though that is a small figure today, the Pantera was released for less than $10,000. AMC didn't take the risk. It ordered the unfinished prototypes destroyed and dropped the project. The End.
But not really the end:-
Giotto destroyed 4 of his 5 prototypes. He just couldn't bring himself to chop up the near complete car, so he and his business partner completed the car themselves from spares. Cars 3, 4, and 5 were sold to Richard Teague. Cars 1 and 2 were lost, found, sold, lost and found again. Dick Teague sold two of his three to private collectors. The whereabouts of car 6 are now known -- it remains to this day in Italy.
The aftermath: The cars trade hands and are shown some. Richard Teague purchased the 28 remaining custom built OTO Melara Transaxles from AMC for the storage and shipping fees (to repair his own AMX/3)
Source: www.socalamc.com/forum/index.php?topic=26.0;wap2
Note. AMC were also working on the Gremlin, a design by Bob Nixon from an idea by Richard A. It was introduced on 1 April 1970, the Gremlin reach a total production of 671,475 in a single generation and one body style.
Tags: worldcars
© All Rights Reserved
The AMC AMX/3 was a mid-engine sports car from the American carmaker American Motors Corp, developed by Giotto Bizzarrini. It was designed as a production model, but shortly before the start of production AMC ended the project. A derivation of the AMX / 3 was the Bizzarrini Sciabola, this being the only a few surviving examples.
The history of the AMX/3:-
The AMX/2 Styling prototype was designed by Richard Teague to participate in a call for designs from AMC. Others participated in this call for designs including Bizzarrini. [Other sources indicate that Giorgetto Giugiaro built a styling mockup, which was never shown to the public]. The Teague design won by a long shot and was approved to the prototype stage.
BMW was contacted to construct the prototypes, but was not chosen because of their elevated prices, so AMC asked Giotto Bizzarrini, a top race car engineer and builder, if he would do the prototypes. AMC also considered having Karmann in Germany build the car. Giotto was contracted for ten prototypes and the follow on construction. Apparently the top brass at AMC felt unsure about the prospect of building a mid-engined car, and just when the first prototype was mostly completed a construction problem appeared suddenly. The English to Metric conversions from the drawings were incorrect and the car could not be completed to a driving state. This car was utilised as a push-mobile used for shows only as it was cosmetically correct. The next 4 cars were completed with proper conversions. The research that followed was conducted by AMC in the U.S. as well as by BMW and Turin Polytechnic in Europe.
About this time (late 1969) AMC learned about Ford's work with DeTomaso and the Pantera. Result: AMC introduced the AMX/3 at auto shows around the world one full year before Ford introduced the Pantera. Designers from other makers were shocked and amazed by the car, with some refusing to believe that AMC designed it.
Testing results started to come in from BMW and Turin Polytech, and BMW proclaimed the body assembly (a boxed sill backbone structure) one of the most rigid chassis that they had ever tested. Speed runs were limited to 160 M.P.H. due to body lifting because of the lack of a front spoiler. There were some cooling problems, and modifications were made to cars 2, 3, 4 and 5 and retrofitted to car 1 later in 1970. Meanwhile AMC ordered 5 more prototypes and Giotto began construction.
Ultimately, AMC found that the car would have to sell for more than $12,000; even though that is a small figure today, the Pantera was released for less than $10,000. AMC didn't take the risk. It ordered the unfinished prototypes destroyed and dropped the project. The End.
But not really the end:-
Giotto destroyed 4 of his 5 prototypes. He just couldn't bring himself to chop up the near complete car, so he and his business partner completed the car themselves from spares. Cars 3, 4, and 5 were sold to Richard Teague. Cars 1 and 2 were lost, found, sold, lost and found again. Dick Teague sold two of his three to private collectors. The whereabouts of car 6 are now known -- it remains to this day in Italy.
The aftermath: The cars trade hands and are shown some. Richard Teague purchased the 28 remaining custom built OTO Melara Transaxles from AMC for the storage and shipping fees (to repair his own AMX/3)
Source: www.socalamc.com/forum/index.php?topic=26.0;wap2
Note. AMC were also working on the Gremlin, a design by Bob Nixon from an idea by Richard A. It was introduced on 1 April 1970, the Gremlin reach a total production of 671,475 in a single generation and one body style.
Tags: worldcars
© All Rights Reserved