MB863

It is dated to 1954, which makes it one of the earlier members of the air-cooled 860 family. Three cylinders of 115 × 140 mm gave 4.36 liters, 60 PS at 2,000 rpm and 226 N·m at 1,500 — figures matching the water-cooled MB 853 exactly, at 500 kg dry against that engine's 505. Doing without a radiator, header tank, pump and hoses bought the machinery builder a simpler installation and one fewer system to service, which in an engine sold loose to be bolted into somebody else's product was worth considerably more than a few kilograms.

Three cylinders in line was as far as the family went before switching layout; above the MB 863 came vee-form fours, sixes and eights reaching 160 PS at the same 2,000 rpm. The Mercedes-Benz archive photographed the eight-cylinder in 1964 and described it as a marine, generator, stationary and industrial engine, which is the honest summary of what all of them did for a living. Nothing about the MB 863 was meant to be seen: it was an engine sold to be installed, run at a constant load, and forgotten about.