Mercedes-Benz C111

Mercedes-Benz C111

Mercedes-Benz

Production1970 (16 cars produced)
PowerM 950 F: 205 kW at 7000 rpm / M 950/4: 260 kW at 6000 rpm / OM 617: 140 kW at 4200 min−1 / OM 617: 170 kW / M 117: 368 kW
EngineC111 I: Mercedes-Benz M 950 / M 950 F (3-rotor Wankel, 3,600 cm³ / C111 II: Mercedes-Benz M 950 / M 950/4 (4-rotor Wankel, 4,800 cm³) / C111 IV: Mercedes-B
Units built5

The Mercedes-Benz C111 is one of 383 Mercedes-Benz models in the MotorJury library, the catalogue that sets out to hold every car ever made — production, prototype and concept alike. The record places its introduction in 1970. The photography on this page is hotlinked from Wikimedia Commons under an open licence, with the photographer credited on every frame.

The era it was born into

To read the Mercedes-Benz C111 properly it helps to place it in its decade. The 1970s were the decade the oil crises rewired the industry — emissions rules, safety bumpers and fuel economy suddenly mattered as much as horsepower, and Japanese manufacturers went global. Any car launched into that world was shaped by it — by what materials, engineering and regulation allowed, and by what buyers of the day demanded. Its direct contemporaries in this catalogue, introduced within three years of it, include the American Motors Corporation AMC Gremlin, the Chevrolet Chevrolet Impala, the Suzuki Motor Corporation Suzuki Jimny — the cars a buyer of the period would actually have cross-shopped.

The numbers, read closely

On paper, the Mercedes-Benz C111 reads like this: the record lists its engine as C111 I: Mercedes-Benz M 950 / M 950 F (3-rotor Wankel, 3,600 cm³ / C111 II: Mercedes-Benz M 950 / M 950/4 (4-rotor Wankel, 4,800 cm³) / C111 IV: Mercedes-B; quoted output is M 950 F: 205 kW at 7000 rpm / M 950/4: 260 kW at 6000 rpm / OM 617: 140 kW at 4200 min−1 / OM 617: 170 kW / M 117: 368 kW; kerb weight is recorded at sp =; drive goes through 5-speed manual; the layout is Longitudinal, Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive. Every figure above is a manufacturer specification carried by the Wikipedia infobox or the open Wikidata record for this model — nothing on this page is estimated, and where a source is silent the row simply does not appear. Production is recorded at 5 units, which makes it a genuine rarity — most enthusiasts will never see one in person.

Its place in the Mercedes-Benz story

Within Mercedes-Benz's own catalogue the Mercedes-Benz C111 sits alongside the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, the Mercedes-Benz C124, the Mercedes-Benz C253, the Mercedes-Benz C254. The record names the Mercedes-Benz SL-X as its predecessor and the Mercedes-Benz CW311 / Mercedes-Benz C112 as its successor, fixing its place in the model line's chronology. Design is credited to Bruno Sacco. Assembly is recorded at West Germany: Untertürkheim.

How this catalogue works

This library is generated, verified and rebuilt from the open record on every deploy. The catalogue skeleton comes from Wikidata, specifications from Wikipedia's infoboxes under CC BY-SA, photography from Wikimedia Commons under each file's own licence, and the ownership data from United States federal safety records. Nothing is written by hand and nothing is invented: every fact on this page traces to a public source, and every page is rebuilt nightly as those sources improve. Errors in the source record will appear here too — and disappear the night the source is corrected.

From catalogue to ownership

What this page cannot yet tell you is what the Mercedes-Benz C111 costs to live with — that is a different dataset. MotorJury's ownership verdicts are computed from federal complaint and recall records plus EPA economy data, published per model year as the nightly ingest reaches each car. If this model was sold in the United States, its years will surface in the ownership database; browse it live or price any car yourself with the true-cost calculator.

Specifications

Transmission5-speed manual
LayoutLongitudinal, Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel drive
Body style2-door berlinetta
Kerb weightsp =
Wheelbase2620 mm
Length4,440 mm
AssemblyWest Germany: Untertürkheim
DesignerBruno Sacco
PredecessorMercedes-Benz SL-X
SuccessorMercedes-Benz CW311 / Mercedes-Benz C112
Catalogue IDQ1877582

Specifications come from the Wikipedia infobox for this model (CC BY-SA) and the open Wikidata record, and are shown only where a source actually carries them — nothing here is estimated. Figures are manufacturer specifications, not measured results.

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What it costs to run

Ownership verdicts are computed from NHTSA complaint and recall records plus EPA economy data, re-priced for your country. Verdicts are published per model year as the data is ingested — browse them live, or open the true-cost calculator to price any year yourself.

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Rivals of its era

Contemporaries from other marques, introduced within three years of this car.