1927 Mercedes-Benz S/SSK Bitsa

If Thor, the God of Thunder, owned a car it would be a Supercharged Mercedes. Very few cars, before or since, have been so imposing, exclusive, charismatic and simply Wagnerian in conception.

Daimler Benz began development of the supercharged car for road and racing use at an early stage. Starting about 1919, they turned to supercharging in order to gain extra power from the slow-running engines of the period. That they succeeded is shown by a long line of cars from the 1922 Targa Florio winner to the W125 and W154 Grand Prix cars of the last years before the war, passing through the SSK and SSKL, before reaching the 500K and 540K, the last supercharged ‘production’ models prior to current models.

The SSK was from its inception designed to be an out and out racing machine. It was based on the S Type frame shortened by 17.75 inches, fitted with a larger bore SS engine, the combination proving explosive immediately. Success became...