The streamlined Count Trossi SSK is one of the most fabled of 1930s Mercedes-Benzes. Massimo Delbò delves into its fascinating history
Photography Evan Klein
It’s 4.30am on the Saturday before the Pebble Beach Concours. I’m too excited to sleep as my mind is already at the truck lot where, in 90 minutes, I’m due to come face to face with one of the most beautiful, mysterious and fabled cars in the world. It will not be the first time, and that makes my feverishness all the more intense: my senses have already been kidnapped by the shape and history of the 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK ‘Count Trossi’. The lack of sleep and the early start will soon be entirely forgotten, and I shake off the doziness by reminding myself of the Count Trossi story.
The car’s history is somewhat complicated, especially that of its formative years. Chassis 36038, paired with engine 77644, was manufactured without having been ordered by a specific owner, and was shipped in February 1930 to the Tokyo Mercedes-Benz dealership. After languishing unsold, it was returned to Stuttgart in the September to be refurbished and then, a month later, the rolling chassis was shipped to Carlo Saporiti Auto Garage in Milan, Italy. On 27 December it was sold to Antonio ‘Tonino’ Maino, a resident of Somma Lombardo in Varese county. He had paid Lire160,000 to become its first owner. To give you an idea of the value of that kind of money, in 1939 a popular Italian song described a 0dream income of Lire1000 per month to be able to afford a house, a nice car and a young and beautiful wife…
The two-month gap between the arrival in Italy of the rolling chassis and its delivery to the new owner is explained in the registration documents, which state that the chassis was fitted with a two-seater spyder body, later discovered to be by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan. Touring was the most exclusive coachbuilder of the period, and employed a sketch image of the car – a white two-seater sports body with cycle fenders but no doors – to advertise the company in the January and February 1931 issues of Auto Italiana.
It then began a career in competition. On 11 April 1931 the SSK left Brescia to race in the Mille Miglia, driven by Maino with Ermenigildo Strazza, but soon retired with a blown head gasket. Having been repaired, on 24 May the SSK was entered in the Gran Premio d’Italia at Monza by Strazza, who went on to buy and register the car in June. He paid Lire50,000 for it and straight away entered the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb, finishing eighth in class.
