Mercedes, boat firm offer matching models
Want to impress folks on land or water? Try this souped-up tandem: A $1.2 million Cigarette Racing 50 Marauder GT S for the big lake and a $130,000 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S for the pavement. Oh, and get them in matching paint schemes, just like the concept tandem unveiled earlier this year at the annual Miami International Boat Show.
Since 2007, German-based Mercedes-AMG and Florida-based boat builder Cigarette Racing have collaborated in joint marketing activities. The latest is the GT S/50 Marauder GT S tandem, with both high-performance vehicles painted in AMG Solarbeam Yellow and matte black.
What’s more, the boat is powered by a pair of Mercury Racing 1550 HP V-8 engines inspired by the biturbo 4.0-liter V-8 beneath the hood of the Mercedes-AMG sports car.
For the road, the AMG-built V-8 provides 503 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, enough to take the car from a standing start to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds, according to Mercedes-Benz.
For the water, Cigarette Racing says the new Mercury engines, combined with a 1,000-pound reduction in the overall weight of the boat, allows the vessel, which stretches 50 feet in length, to reach a top speed of more than 135 mph.
Oh, and while the car seats a driver and a passenger, the boat provides seating for five, with a hand-crafted interior modeled on AMG styling cues with marine-grade alcantara accents, and complete with Bluetooth, audio and navigation technologies.
“Inspired by the all-new Mercedes-AMG GT S, our newest collaboration with Cigarette Racing focuses on the exhilarating and the exquisite,” Daimler AG design chief Gorden Wagener said at the Miami show unveiling of the tandem. “The new Mercedes-AMG GT is a sports car in its purist form and this expression of power and speed is what also sculpted the body and the flowing lines of the 50 Marauder GT S Concept.”
Cigarette Racing was founded in 1969 by off-shore racer Don Aronow, who, according to the company’s website, named the company and its style of boats after a “notorious prohibition-era rum smuggler.”
Cigarette Racing builds boats from 38 to 55 feet in length, each custom made and tested “under extreme conditions.”
According to Mercedes-Benz, “Mercedes-AMG and Cigarette Racing also have similar DNA makeups: both companies have triumphant racing roots and are still dedicated to this passion.”
Larry Edsall is a Phoenix-based freelance writer. You can reach him at ledsall@cox.net.