A vintage car museum is displaying a colourful Mercedes-Benz bus that carried members of football teams during the World Cup back in 1974.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup starts in Qatar on 20 November 2022. Mercedes-Benz is using the event as an opportunity to highlight one of its special buses from the 1974 World Cup in West Germany (the country was still divided at the time).
Mercedes provided the buses to transport the teams and painted each one in that bright shade of yellow and the colour of the respective country’s flag.
Inside, Mercedes-Benz equipped these buses with all the comforts to make the players feel comfortable while travelling to the games, some of which would be out of place today. Each seat had an individual ashtray. There was also a beer tap at the back. Amenities included a stereo system with a cassette deck. Air conditioning provided comfort for the teams.
Mercedes introduced the O 302 bus in early 1965 and produced more than 32,000 examples during the production cycle. Customers could order various four- and six-cylinder diesel engines with an output from 125 hp (93 kW) to 236 hp (176 kW). Air suspension became standard in 1971 after previously being an option.
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