We want a boss like Mercedes-Benz Rastatt plant manager, Peter Wesp, who tasked his trainees to build a one-off B-Class. It's not our favourite 'Benz admittedly, but we'll make an exception here as this is a very special B-Class. The clue is in the B 55 name, with this one-off featuring a 5.5-litre V8 under its bonnet and a 0-62mph time of less than six seconds.
The V8 installation was the idea of Andreas Würz - a foreman in the technical vocational training department - who measured the space under the B-Class's bonnet and discovered that the big powerplant would fit.
The engine might squeeze in, but evidently the driveshafts didn't. No worries for the technicians at Rastatt, as they diverted drive to the rear via an old W210 E-Class rear axle and a new seven-speed automatic transmission. The prop shaft fitted into the sandwich floor of the B without affecting interior space.
Würz claims that fitting the engine itself wasn't a problem (it sits on the existing engine mounts), though the rest of the installation wasn't quite so simple. The brakes come from a C 32 AMG and the exhaust is a combination of parts from the extensive Mercedes stock cupboard.
K&W coil-over suspension, a revised ECU, a leather and Alcantara interior and some subtle exterior styling revisions (and not so subtle in the case of the twin exhausts) complete the conversion from mundane B 200 CDI into the mighty B 55.
While this project is not intended for production, Training Manageress Manuela Rascher says: "The B 55 shows what our training workshop can do." However, she doesn't rule out further special projects, saying: "We may have some surprises in store."
Kyle Fortune - 23 Dec 2010