If we told you you could still buy a brand new Mercedes B-Class in the UK, we have a good feeling we know what your reaction would be: “a Mercedes what-Class?” Yep, despite now being in its third generation and having been around for over 20 years, this curious tall-hatchback-stroke-small-people-carrier isn’t exactly known for its enthusiast cred, or for being a sales phenomenon. We genuinely didn’t realise it was still on sale until we checked Merc’s website.
It’s also one of a tiny handful of modern-day Benzes that’s never been given a full-fat AMG treatment. Well, not from the factory anyway. See, back in 2010, Andreas Würz, a foreman in Merc’s training department in Germany, got hold of a first-generation diesel-powered B200 CDI and, as we all do whenever we’re faced with a very dull car, thought to himself: “I wonder if a V8 will fit in there?”
Mercedes B55 – rear
One quick session with a tape measure later, Würz concluded that yes, a V8 would indeed fit in there. He and his colleague Matthias Rieger assembled a team of technical apprentices undergoing training programmes at Mercedes, and challenged them to cram the company’s 5.5-litre, 382bhp M273 V8 into the engine bay of the unassuming B-Class.
The brief was to ensure that there was as little as possible on the outside to give away that this wasn’t a normal B-Class, and that the interior too, while given a luxury makeover, was just as spacious as the standard car.
Mercedes B55 – engine bay
What resulted was a Frankenstein’s Merc, christened the B55, and created by trawling through the deepest, darkest depths of the company’s parts bin. The engine was the least of the problems – apparently, it slotted right into the B-Class’ engine bay, even working with the original engine mounts.
It couldn’t exactly send 382bhp and 391lb ft to the front wheels, though, so power was redirected to the back, via a seven-speed automatic and through the rear axle from a ’90s W210 E-Class. While the propshaft fitted without needing to hack anything apart, a new subframe had to be designed to accommodate the axle.
Mercedes B55 – front detail
Another new fabrication was the exhaust system, effectively bodged together from various existing parts, and exiting via two pipes at the back of the car. Apparently, it uncorked quite the sound from the big eight-pot.
Brakes came from a C32 AMG, and a set of 18-inch five-spoke AMG alloys had to be fitted to accommodate them. Giving the car its low, sleeperish stance, meanwhile, was a set of KW coilovers. To finish the job, the interior was given slatherings of Alcantara, and outside, the headlights were smoked and the radiator grille finished in black.
The finished product weighed in at only 1620kg, around 180kg heavier than the original B200. Würz reckoned it would hit 62mph in under six seconds, but whether this was ever tried isn’t clear. One thing we do know, though, is that it’d do burnouts like a proper AMG.
So why did this joyously ridiculous thing never go on sale? It might be something to do with the fact that Jens Ehrig, at the time the head of AMG’s Driver Academy, told motoring.com.au that the B55 was “undriveable.” Fair enough.
Mercedes B55 – rear
It remains a monstrous one-off, then, and is now presumably languishing in a storage unit somewhere in Stuttgart if it hasn’t been scrapped in the intervening 14 years. Shame – it’s about the only thing that’s ever made the B-Class interesting.
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