Mercedes Benz SSK (Super Sport Kurz, German for “Super Sport Short”) was the last car designed for Mercedes-Benz by Ferdinand Porsche before he left to found his own company. Two-door roadster car was fitted with a supercharged single overhead camshaft 7-litre straight-6 engine producing 200–300 hp. The SSK was in production in 1928-1930. Fewer than 40 cars were built, of which about half were racing cars. In 1931 the SSK was developed in the SSKL model. The SSKL was based on the SSK, whose short wheelbase made it very light and manoeuvrable but was even lighter – as indicated by the ‘L’ in its model designation. It weighed around 1,350kg, and the output of its six-cylinder compressor 7,065cc engine was 300 bhp. The car was debuted in April 1931 when Caracciola drove it to victory in the Mille Miglia.
In the 1931 Avusrennen 3 SSKL for Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch and Hans Stuck, and one SSK (for Eugen Winter) were entered. Caracciola won the race while von Brauchitsch was 3rd behind Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen in Bugatti T51. Von Brauchitsch was the nephew to Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch, commander in chief of the German army during WW2. The aristocratic youngster started racing in his cousin’s Mercedes in 1929. Raced private Mercedes cars in the early 30’s, he celebrated his first major victory in 1932 at the AVUS in Berlin, where he competed in his Mercedes SSKL with an aerodynamically shaped special body designed by Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld. From 1934 to 1939 he was part of the manufacturer’s works team. Despite his proverbial bad luck, he achieved some major victories, such as the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix or the 1938 French Grand Prix.
| Season | Series | Event |
| 1931 | Grand Prix | Avusrennen |
| Driver | No. | Entrant |
| Manfred von Brauchitsch | 36 | M. von Brauchitsch |
| Scale | Manufacturer | Collection |
| 1:43 | Rio Models | |
| Cat. No. | Quality | Rarity |
| 4629 | 
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