Mercedes-Benz
300 SEL 6.8 AMG race car ("Rote Sau")

Why it matters

The "Rote Sau" (Red Pig) was a 300 SEL 6.3 rebuilt by AMG into a 6.8-litre touring-car racer. Entered at the 1971 Spa 24 Hours, it qualified fifth and finished second overall on its debut, a result that put the small tuning firm on the map and made the car AMG's best-known early creation. The original was sold to the French aviation company Matra and used for testing until it was destroyed, so surviving cars are replicas.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

The basis was the 300 SEL 6.3, the saloon that engineer Erich Waxenberger had created in 1966 by fitting the 600's V8 into a large Mercedes. After works entries with the 6.3 at Spa in 1968 were withdrawn, Waxenberger kept developing the racing saloon privately, and when a works programme was refused he handed equipment and knowledge to AMG (Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach), the firm of two former Mercedes engineers. According to RM Sotheby's, AMG started from a damaged 300 SEL.

AMG enlarged the V8 to 6.8 litres, which the team records as 428 bhp, fitted aluminium doors and perspex in place of glass, and reworked the suspension around Bilstein gas dampers. Because the rules required most of the interior to stay, the finished car still weighed 1,600 kg. It was painted cardinal red and nicknamed Die Rote Sau (the Red Pig) at Spa on 24 July 1971. It ran second overall at the end of the twice-round-the-clock race and won its class according to RM Sotheby's.

A rule change made it unraceable in 1972, and AMG sold it to Matra, which used it hard for suspension and tyre testing for the Mirage jet fighter programme until it was destroyed.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Identification guide

How to tell an original from a replica or later conversion.

No original car is known to survive; the Mercedes-AMG F1 team says Matra worked it to destruction, and RM Sotheby's calls the original destroyed. Any "Rote Sau" seen today is therefore a replica or recreation. RM Sotheby's states that a handful of faithful replicas exist, including one built by Mercedes-Benz, and describes its own example as a 1969 300 SEL 6.3 converted by Arthur Bechtel Classic Motors in Boeblingen. Features that the sources attribute to the original are a 6.8-litre V8 of about 428 bhp, aluminium doors, perspex side glazing, flared wheel arches, a widened track, larger tyres, Bilstein gas dampers, a weight of 1,600 kg and cardinal red paint with sponsor lettering. The donor car for such builds is a W 109 300 SEL 6.3, type 109.018.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   auto motor und sport – Mercedes 300 SEL 6.8: Nachbau der "roten Sau" Level C

   • 1 the single AMG race car built on a 300 SEL 6.3 (original believed scrapped after Matra tests)

   Accessed 2026-11-12
2. 2
   Mercedes-AMG F1 team article on Rote Sau history Level B Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

   • The 6.8-litre V8 was now good for a mighty 428 bhp
   • aluminium doors, and glass replaced by perspex
   • the finished car weighed-in at 1600kg

   Accessed 2026-11-12