Which Vintage Racecar-Tow Truck Combo Would You Rather Have?

I recently came back from the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, and I spotted something quite similar to what I saw at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion in Monterey — a priceless vintage racecar on its own custom tow-truck. I just dug up the photos from both vehicles and I just wanted to share them with you, dear readers, who I’m sure are all currently on the market for a vintage racecar/tow truck combo. So here, let’s have a look at your options.

First up, let’s look at the Mercedes car transporter that I just saw. Called the “Blue Wonder,” it is truly something special:

Just look at how far ahead of the front axle the nose is!

I love that friendly face!

You may recognize this vehicle from this Jay Leno’s Garage video — Leno himself commissioned a replica build of a “Blue Wonder” to transport his Benz:

As Leno says in the video above, this was “The world’s fastest car transporter,” outfitted with the 300SL Gullwing’s fuel injected straight six. It was capable of blasting down the Autobahn at over 100 mph, with the intent to get broken racecars back to Mercedes’ workshop as soon as possible and then back to the racetrack.

“This is the ultimate expression of cab forward,” Leno says about the hilarious design of his replica, which was built after Mercedes crushed the original in 1967. Leno’s Transporter does not have the original Gullwing motor, but instead a 1980s Mercedes truck engine. Other modifications include the addition of AC (yes, Leno says he actually used the car to transport his own Benz) and a little cubby aft of the driver’s side front wheel.

It’s this cubby that is one of the distinguishing elements of Leno’s Blue Wonder when compared to Mercedes Benz’s.

That’s right. There are actually two of these replica Blue Wonder’s in existence, and the one I saw at Goodwood was actually the one from the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Mercedes provides some background on this machine on its website, writing:

Originally, it was built in the Mercedes‑Benz test workshop in 1954 for the following year’s motor racing season. There is no separation here between the driver’s cab and the load platform, as is the case with conventional commercial vehicles. Instead the body of the transporter appears to have been cast from a single mould. The silhouette is decidedly sporty: the cab, positioned ahead of the front axle, crouches to hug the road. And the rear mudguards proudly proclaim “Max. speed 105 m.p.h.”. This translates to a top speed of 170 km/h, which was more than respectable at the time. The maximum speed was apparently recorded on the paintwork at the end of the 1955 season – as documented by historical photos.

[…]

The high-speed racing car transporter was used to carry the 300 SLR as well as the W 196 R Formula One racing cars all over Europe during that season. It was the fast and essential link in the time-critical logistics between the plant in Stuttgart and the race tracks.

Mercedes discusses how this machine was actually built out of existing Mercedes components, writing on its site:

This is because the engineers and designers used numerous components adopted from the passenger cars produced in the mid-1950s: the suspension, for example, came from the highly exclusive 300 S (W 188). The “Ponton” saloon (W 120) in the upper medium class contributed numerous body parts. The six-cylinder M 198 engine with a displacement of 2,996 cc, on the other hand, came from the 300 SL “Gullwing” super sports car (W 198). In that car the engine developed 158 kW (215 PS) at 5,800 rpm, while in the high-speed racing car transporter it delivered 141 kW (192 PS) at 5,500 rpm.

The radiator grille with the central Mercedes star is reminiscent of the production sports cars, racing sports cars and racing cars of the time.
The various standard components were harmoniously blended into a design all of its own. The flowing design idiom of the cab continues through to the rounded rear end. The design is accentuated by chrome trim, from the bumpers to the surrounds of the windows and headlamps. The two-section rear window makes a particularly organic impression. Its glass surfaces follow the shape of the cab, curving around the cab and inwards at the same time.

The thing is just incredible.

On the much, much slower and humbler end of the spectrum is this: The Volkswagen T1 “Rennstall Bunker,” which translates to “Racing Team Bunker,” with the “Bunker” Term apparently referring to Art Bunker, owner of VW and Porsche dealerships in Kansas City. I managed to find the video of the stretched VW T1 pickup under construction:

The truck is about 4.7 feet longer than a standard VW Type 2 “T1” pickup truck.

The great thing about this stretched T1 is that, because the air-cooled engine is under the rear floor, the bed-floor is way up high off the ground, meaning there’s tons of storage space below the platform for straps and other equipment — no need to add a cubby like Leno did to his Mercedes.

At the same time, this is also a downside in that nobody really wants all that weight high off the ground. What’s more, loading a vehicle that high is rather complicated.

And if you don’t believe me when I say it’s complicated, just look at how ridiculous the loading process is:

Yes, hydraulic jacks lift the entire front end of the truck off the ground in order to lower the tail-end of this thing to receive the ramps! It’s hilarious!

So if it’s you, do you go for the high-speed Merc with a W196 Streamliner strapped down or the slow and wacky VW with that Porsche 550 on the back? (Actually, I found a webpage devoted to racecar transporters; you should really check that out, because maybe one of those strikes your fancy more than these two. There’s a Citroen in there that will stir your soul).