The first is the truck that paved the way, the Lo 2750. The name comes from its payload designation -- 2.75-tons, though Mercedes says that today says it would be classified for 6.5-tons. When the truck entered the market in the 1930s, its brochure promised a "wealth of appointments." They include: switches for the lamps and turn signals on the dash, a speedometer and odometer, an oil indicator, a fuel regulator, a glow plug and start switch, and a socket for a hand-held lamp.
Oh, the advancement of modern technology. Mercedes' transport today, the Actros, sports, among other amenities, a recreation room for drivers, a suite with a fridge, and a host of high-tech safety equipment. Besides ABS and stability control, the truck boasts roll control, lane assist, and Active Brake Assist, which initiates emergency braking if it detects an imminent rear-end collision. Power comes from a 15.9L (no error) V-8 turbodiesel. And the truck is 13.1-ft tall and 54.1-ft long.
Though smaller, at 22.1-ft. long, the "Blue Wonder" is no less interesting than the Actros. In 1955, at the request of racing manager Alfred Neubauer, the Mercedes-Benz prototype department developed the fast racing car carrier specifically for transporting especially urgent loads, according to a press release. The only stipulations were that the vehicle should be fast and able to transport any racing car. Mercedes engineers lengthened the frame of a 300 S, fitted to it a engine from a 300SL, and took the body components from a 180 sedan. The result was, Mercedes claims, the fastest truck of the era. And although the original was scrapped in 1967, the automaker built a new model, seen in the surrounding images, using photographs of the previous transport as a blueprint.