Mercedes-Benz Trucks Classic showcased five Mercedes-Benz classic vehicle highlights at the recent “Tribute to Carl Benz” event.

The event honoured inventor of the motorcar, Carl Benz, with the five rare trucks from the Mercedes-Benz truck plant in Wörth placed at the main entrance near the Karl Friedrich monument, having been driven there from Wörth to Karlsruhe.

“We are pleased to be able to take part in this celebration as Mercedes-Benz Trucks Classic for the first time, an event that honours one of our company founders,” said Bernd Hufendiek from Mercedes-Benz Trucks Classic.

“We are particularly proud to showcase five jewels from our collection at this event, some of which will be on display at our Customer Center in Wörth for the rest of the year.”

Almost 400 participants came to Schlossplatz for the “Tribute to Carl Benz”. Classic cars built up to no later than 1973 attracted several tens of thousands of visitors.

The oldest Mercedes-Benz Trucks Classic exhibit on Schlossplatz in Karlsruhe was a Mercedes-Benz L 3000 S platform vehicle from 1939, of which around 16,500 units were built.

A rare “millipede” was also on show in Karlsruhe with a Mauxion chocolate box body: the three-axle, 16-ton Mercedes-Benz LP 333 truck from 1960 is one of the few roadworthy cab-over-engine trucks left with a twin front axle. Only 1833 vehicles from this truck model series were built at the time.

The “youngest” member of the Mercedes-Benz truck family on show in Karlsruhe was the LP 608, a lightweight cab-over-engine platform vehicle with a short cubic driver’s cab from 1965. It was a model from this series in an identical colour that was the very first truck to roll off the production line at the Wörth plant on 14 July 1965.