Mercedes Weltrekordwagon with a 44.5L V12 (no, that's not a typo)

It seems that while the Nazi's were quite a busy lot during their reign, they weren't too busy to try and break some world speed records. They maneged to build the sinister looking beast below - the 1939 Mercedes-Benz T-80 Weltrekordwagen. The ‘car’ features the largest engine that Mercedes had ever been responsible for at the time – a 44.5 litre V12 that develops three thousand horsepower and originally designed to fit in an aircraft.

The T-80 was built to travel at 750km/h, however it was never given the chance to attempt this blistering speed record, and it was only by sheer luck that it managed to survive the Second World War as it sat in Austria. It now sits in the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. While it has been fully restored, Mercedes Benz has not officially attempted to see just how fast it can go and it seems unlikely that we ever will know. While it isn’t a beautiful car per se, it is extremely striking, and looks almost like a Nazi Batmobile – its just a shame that no one will be able to hear that 44.5 litre V12 starting up again.

The above photo was taken by a visitor to the new Mercedes museum. You can find more of his photos in this thread on the GM Insider Forums.