Mercedes-Benz SSK

The Mercedes-Benz SSK bodied by Touring was a special competition car entered in the 1931 Mille Miglia by Sebastiano Maino and Ermengildo Strazza. The crew did not finish the race. Introduced in 1928, the SSK — Super Sport Kurz — was one of Mercedes-Benz’s most powerful sports cars of the period. Its shortened chassis improved agility, while the supercharged inline-six engine gave it the performance needed for road racing and hillclimbs. For this Mille Miglia entry, the car received bodywork by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan. The design was functional and lightweight, with a long bonnet, separate wings, exposed wheels, a compact cockpit, and a short rear section. It was not a luxury body, but a competition-focused interpretation of the German chassis. The Touring-bodied SSK was not a production model. It was a one-off racing special, notable for combining Mercedes-Benz engineering with Italian coachbuilding, and for its documented appearance in the 1931 Mille Miglia.neering.