3 min read!
It was an absolute privilege to be the first to have a photoshoot with Martin’s just completed Rote Sau tribute (Red Sow) most commonly known as the Mercedes Red Pig last week.
I first met Martin and Nikki a few years ago at a local car meet and we quickly arranged for a shoot with Nikki’s gorgeous 1969 Mercedes 280SL Pagoda – at this point the Red Pig tribute was very much in its early stages.
So a quick history lesson! AMG was not widely known in the early 70’s, Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher founded AMG 1967 as you can see, name was created using their surnames Aufrecht and Melcher and with their home town name Großaspach and here is where the legend begins.
Fast forward to 1971, this was the key turning point for AMG. The original W109 AMG Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 that made the small tuning company famous overnight, the original car won its class and came second overall in the 24 hour race at Spa in Belgium in 1971 driven by Hans Heyer and Clemens Schickentanz and was not even a works car and here the legend is born!
Records are a little sparse but research suggests there to be only 3 to 5 originals built with no known survivors with the last known one was destroyed testing fighter jet landing gear and tyres way back in the mid 70’s
Back to Martin’s tribute…..
Martin a fan of the Red Pig from a young age first spotted the ‘donor’ car online, (2021/22) a solid partial resto was the ideal candidate that already had a very strong 5.6 V8, so the long process of the tribute was started, bodywork, suspension, brakes, interior etc began.
There was a planned grand reveal scheduled for our very own show back in June but with a crucial missing part not arriving on time meant the car was not drivable to Elvaston Castle, as with all resto projects there will be ups and downs so I will leave that to Martin to explain in his own blog post for the Mercedes Benz UK forum!
Expect to see the Rote Sau at many classic car events as Martin plans to show it as much as he can, but for now please just just enjoy the pics!
Thank you to Martin and Nikki for allowing me to have a photoshoot with both of your cars.
Pagoda notes – 1969 Pagoda 280SL has been owned by Nikki for 24 years. Currently in Rally set up to commemorate the 1963 win between Spa, Sofia and Liege. A show winner at various events, this car is completely reliable and is used for weekends away keeping up with modern traffic with ease. The colour is grey blue DB906
Images by BeFormless Photography