Summer is always a time when open-air motoring becomes more alluring. And once upon a time, i.e. before about 1940, phaetons, all-weather limousines and other four-door convertibles allowed for four or five fully-grown adults to enjoy the warmer months in comfort together in the same car. In the postwar era, this became increasingly difficult to achieve, save for owners of a ‘60s Lincoln or a VW Thing. Or the very lucky few who could order a Mercedes 300 Cabriolet D.
Seeing any Adenauer Benz is a pretty special event, but a curbside Cabriolet D is one for the books. Or for this website, at any rate. I won’t bother rewriting the history of the model (links to previous CC posts in below), but the production numbers speak for themselves: of the 8000-plus W186 chassis made from 1951 to 1957, only 642 were clad with the drop-top body.
Why were so few made? Well, even in the ‘50s, this body style was a bit of a throwback. Besides, they didn’t come cheap. One of these hand-made behemoths would have set you back about DM24,700 in 1955. That was just DM2500 more than the limo, but to get an idea of the scales we’re dealing with here, a deluxe VW Beetle “Export” cost DM4600 at the time.
All those Deutschmarks bought you a lot of car, including a 125PS 3-litre OHC straight-6, a giant horse hair-lined convertible top with functional landau bars, and a luxuriously-appointed cabin. Wood, chrome and leather aplenty, but the feel is decidedly not British.
The W186 has a definite prewar feel to it, especially in this body style, but the engine and drivetrain were arguably more modern than any comparable British or American aristocar of the ‘50s. For the 300b model (1954-55) seen here, Mercedes squeezed an extra 10hp of power, improved the brakes and added front window vents, but the big jump to fuel injection and a revamped body would only come with the 300d in 1957.
The original look of the 300 suits me fine, especially that bulbous tail that was echoed so well on the 300SL. A couple of decades ago, the whole car would have seemed almost oversized, with that giant tombstone of a grille and those chunky bits of brightwork. But given how massive cars have become nowadays, it would fit pretty well in present-day traffic. It’s still huge compared to JDM keis, but then most vehicles are.
The four-door convertible body style died out far too soon. Call me hopelessly old-fashioned, but I wish they could bring it back. I know, I know, it’d be prohibitively difficult given crash protection regulations in most markets, but one can dream. Imagine a roofless 2024 Tesla Model X or Bentley Mulsanne – you’d notice that going down the street. Just like this one still makes heads turn everywhere it wafts by.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1951-1962 Mercedes 300 (W186&189) – The Adenauer Mercedes; A Timeless Classic, by PN
1958 Mercedes 300d (W189) – The Ultimate Hardtop, by PN
Curbside Classic: 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 (W186) – Best German Car Of The ‘50s?, by T87
Curbside Classic: Mercedes 300SEL (W109) – Trying To Make Sense Of The Magic Number “300”, by Don Andreina
Absolutely stunning automobile.
+1
That is a beautiful car.
I’m wondering if anyone can explain the odd mirror placement in the interior picture (#4). It took me a while to realize that was a mirror on the hump under the dash, reflecting the back side of the steering wheel. This is in addition to there being an actual – although still oddly placed – rear view mirror on the windshield (picture #1).
The rear view mirror is sited to look over the mountain of folded-down top.
As to why there would be a need for an up-skirt mirror, well, that’s anybody’s guess…
Maybe when the top is up, the high-mounted mirror is removed, and the one stored below the dash is connected to a mount on the lower side of the upper frame…and then, the removed mirror is placed where the larger one had been kept below the dash, in the process becoming a smaller up-skirt.
Professor, I would not ever stoop so low as to call you old-fashioned, though I might opine that in your current incarnation, your despairingly antiquated personage has been noted, and, even that said, and with suitable modification so as to distinguish yourself from myself, I might also confess to seamless conjoinment in your outlook on the subject you described.
These cars are the last great glamour cars before mass-production for the masses necessarily surpassed them, the masses only ever having the means for two doors less than this had. I rather want one.
And I could have, in theory. About a year back, a RHD here was up for grabs, though confessedly, it was a (most excellent) conversion of a sedan. Well, yes, and it had a 3 litre pushrod-wheezer of a Holden engine, not to mention an attached (and leaking) 3-speed Holden automatic, but so what? And who’d know?
It is to this discussion immaterial that I lacked the $60K that even such a beautiful impostor went for, in my less-than-humble opinion, and lest I be seen as having reached a time where I could come to be hallooed as non-new in my view myself.
I simply did not fancy one that day. I was doing Something Modern.
More gin, what?
Even though it`s from the 50s, these cars always reminded me of the German staff cars you`d see in movies set during WW ll like ‘The Dirty Dozen’ or ‘The Longest Day’ among others.
With the German industrial complex mostly bombed into oblivion just 10 years earlier, Mercedes Benz was in no position to compete with Cadillac to be the trend setter, so much like Rolls Royce, they sold old world luxury cars to those who appreciated them, and could afford them.
DM24,700 in 1955 at a 4.21 exchange rate made the car cost $5867. I expect freight to USA and thence to wherever was additional. Pretty pricey for sure.
For comparison the July 22, 1955 Houston Chronicle had ads for Ford Fairlanes or Chevy Bel Airs at $2000 and a Buick Roadmaster Riveria sticker $4500 ad price $3395.
I could not find ads for new Cadillacs or Lincolns but a one year old Cadillac with air was offered for $3600.
Source for exchange rate: https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/projects/currency.htm
What a beauty. I’ve never seen an Adenauer Benz in the metal. I’ve seen a few Ponton sedans around here in Toronto, but never one of these magnificent old beasts. I’d love to see how the staff at our local Mercedes dealer would react if one of these pulled up. If I were a manager there and anyone dared to say “So what? Another old car. Whatever.” I’d fire them on the spot.