The 1965 design study was by Mercedes-Benz stylists Giorgio Battistella and Paul Bracq, who worked feverishly on a mid-engined super sports car in the mid-1960s.
Internally known as the SLX, the design study was realised in the spring of 1966 as a 1:1 scale wooden model and underwent testing in a wind tunnel.
The prototype illustrated just how important the creative development step was to the C 111, which was presented only three years later.
