Yes, I had the same reaction you just did. Then, having picked up my jaw from the ground, I took a few photos of this extremely rare (and valuable) Mercedes-Benz 300 S Coupé. I’m pretty sure this was the first one I’d ever seen in my life. But there was even more to this particular one than I had bargained for.
But first, a little précis about the W188, because we don’t see these every day. In essence, this was the Maybach of the Mercedes-Benz range during most of the the ‘50s. These cost way more than the 300 Adenauer limos, which they derived from, and were even a step higher than the 300 SL.
In late 1947, the top brass at Mercedes-Benz launched the 300 program. The aim was to get back to the sort of high-quality products that had made their reputation up to that point, but adapted to the times: gone were the massive straight-8s of yore. The new flagship would make do with a 3-litre six, albeit a brand new one with an overhead cam. In the Mercedes tradition, suspension would be independent on all four wheels.
The bulk of sales would come from the four-door cars, but from the get go, a short chassis was part of the plan. A little pizzazz never hurts. Incidentally, these would be the last Mercedes-Benzes to feature body-on-frame construction.
And so, in April 1951, the 300 limo (W186) came to be. It was followed by the W188 models, launched at the Paris Motor Show in October: the 300 S Coupé, Cabriolet A and Roadster. In September 1955, the W188 were granted the same fuel-injected engine as the 300SL, albeit tamed down to 175hp, thus becoming known as the 300Sc. A revised rear suspension was also part of the package; externally, only a discreet “Einspritzmotor” script on the rear bumper and a couple of chrome louvres on the hood were added, as can be seen on the roadster above.
Our feature car, though, is a “plain” 300 S, without the mechanical fuel injection. Instead, it has a triple Solex carb setup, providing 150hp. Better than the limo’s 115hp, but still not too much to propel 1750kg’s worth of steel, glass, leather, wood and chrome down the road.
This is a 1955 car (according to at least one pretty trustworthy source), but we’re looking at something that was entirely built by hand in the pre-war way. Mercedes-Benz’s in-house coachbuilding department, known as Sindelfingen, was charged with manufacturing these to the best of their abilities. And that’s saying something.
The interior is just as stunning as the exterior. There’s something immediately Mercedes about the atmosphere in here, but it’s not easy to describe why that is. The grain, thickness and linearity of the wood trim, the generous amount of chrome, the Becker Grand Prix radio set…
The Nardi wheel is obviously aftermarket, but could well be a period accessory. All W188s got a column-mounted 4-speed manual, by the way – no automatic was on the options list, unlike the 300 limo.
But there were a lot of luxuries that came as standard. Here’s a period picture of a 300 S cabriolet, with a bigger radio set. As we can see here, a specially-made trunk was included to fit in the (tiny) back seat.
Two suitcases were also included for the boot as well. These were not optional extras, they were included in the car’s substantial asking price.
Our feature car’s back seat did not have that special trunk, but it did serve as a large parcel shelf, as these are wont to do. It doesn’t appear that there’s much in the way of legroom back there…
Three things were immediately striking, when looking at this exceptional machine. One was that it had sealed beams (Lucas PL700 tripods, to be exact), and extra turn signals underneath. Neither of these would have been mandated outside of North America at the time. However, the license plate is an extremely old one. Not unlike the VW Beetle we saw yesterday, this is a pre-1962 plate.
This sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole, where I found a couple of CC precursors. There have always been a few car enthusiasts who were also amateur photographers. One was highlighted in this excellent piece by Paul, for instance. And it so happens that this very car was captured back in the first decade or two of its life by at least two veteran Japanese enthusiasts.
One is KoyaPop. I only know this person’s online name, but they have an incredible collection of car photos taken between roughly 1965 to the present, which can be searched in this website. We can see our Benz parked about a Tokyo side-street in 1968.
The other kindred spirit is Mr Sadahiko Asai. Born in 1934, he was a bank clerk in Tokyo in the ‘50s and ‘60s, spending a lot of time (and most of his lunch hours) cycling around and photographing interesting cars. I’m not sure when he found our Mercedes exactly, but he certainly did. It even made the cover of one of the many books he published about 20 years ago.
Fortunately, a lot of the information contained in these books, including photos, has been posted on this website. And so we learn from Mr Asai, who must have talked to the owner of the car he was photographing, that this 300 S Coupé was imported into Japan by a US Army officer, then sold to a film actor named Teiji Takahashi, who died in a car accident (not in the Benz, I presume) in 1959.
So this 300 S was indeed a US model originally, albeit one that went to live in Japan within a year or two of its birth. Mr Asai said that when he took the pictures, sometime in the early ‘60s, this was the only W188 in the country.
Which is no great surprise when you realize how few of these were made to begin with. The carburated cars like this one, made between late 1951 and the summer of 1955, totalled 560 units only, of which 214 were coupés. To that we can add 200 units of the fuel-injected 300 Sc (1955-58) version, about half of which were coupés, and that’s it. The last classic Benz two-doors were few and far between.
By comparison, 1400 units of the gullwing 300 SLs were made between 1954 and 1957. But then, the 300 S was about 20% more expensive than the SL – up near Bentley Continental territory.
The one mystery that bugs me is the little opening on the rear right fender there. There’s no equivalent on the other side of the car. The 300 limos have it too, and I’ve not been able to suss out what these are. If you happen to know, do drop a line in the comment section…
I’m sure a few more W188s have made their way to these islands by now, but there was a time when this was the one and only of its kind in Japan. It was exceptional CC fodder then, and it remains so now.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 (W186) – Best German Car Of The ‘50s?
Curbside Classic: 1955 Mercedes-Benz 220 (W187) Cabriolet A – Back In Benz-ness
CC Capsule: 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300b (W186) Cabriolet D – Top Of The Topless
Curbside Classic: 1951-1962 Mercedes 300 (W186&189) – The Adenauer Mercedes; A Timeless Classic
Tatra, that opening should conceal the fuel tank pipe end. At least, that’s how this car’s junior, the 180D, had it’s own.
Yes, that is the fuel filler door.
D’oh! Of course it is.
Kind big, but then I bet these have a healthy appetite.
Call me a fool, but I think the limos have more style. In my opinion, they have aged better too.
Nonetheless a great rare find.
Absolutely amazing find,Tatra! It never ceases to amaze what cars you photograph for us!
One little thing to add: Apparently the later 300Sc didn’t just have fuel-injection, but direct fuel injection – like the 300SL.
Proper otherworldly tech for the time, for a proper other-wordly car.
The “next” car to feature direct fuel injection (gasoline car that is), at least on the German market, was to the best of my knowledge the Mitsubishi Galant GDI – 42 years after the introduction of the 300Sc !
Went to the link to Koyapop’ library, amazing……
What an amazing car and great that you were able to trace its history and find old street spottings of it. It sure is a grand old thing but the brown colour is a bit dull if I was to nitpick.
“I shall buy one of the most exclusive and expensive cars in world. I shall order it in, hmmm……..Suspicious Stain Brown.”
Staggering car, and a great account and research. Thanks T87!
Wow, I surrender – this definitely wins the ‘Tokyo Top This” award.
Did I see a Toyota 2000 GT parled behind it in the top pic?
A find so outre it’s almost absurd. Definitely never seen one, nor expect to.
Mercedes really did take a while to understand chrome, and taste, or both. Those huge, what are they, forward fins atop the front mudguards look heavier than a standard Beetle, and about as desirable. Clumsy. Neither is it clear to me why we need bumper overriders tall as lamposts – harder for a peasant to climb, perhaps? – or a waist-level chrome log front to back.
But none of that is the worst carbuncle, which is those damn headlights. They’re so bulked up by chrome on chrome that they’ve drooped down from where they should be, like massive, rotten eggs, sliding slowly off a fat man’s belly. Lucky the profile of the car is a wonderful interpretation of a ’30’s glameister coupe, and the car itself is a capable, exotic device, because that mournful face nearly ruins the whole super-priced thing.
Still an astonishing find (and I reserve especial liking for a car with local history where it landed), even if it is in colors which appears to have formed an alliance with an old handbag left at a railway station in about 1895.
VERY nice ! .
Pops bought one of these in the late 1950’s and when he took his girlfriend up to Maine for a hidden weekend he neglected to check the oil and ruined the engine in rural Maine in 1963 or so .
He’d supposedly bought the car for my mother, she was not amused .
He would up marrying that girl friend after mom kicked him to the curb .
This is a stunningly beautiful car .
-Nate
What a find. I remember seeing a cabriolet version parked in front of the church at the end of my block around 1973 or so – I was fascinated by the landau bars and the thick convertible top. Not exactly what you’d expect to find in a Mon Valley steel town!
Years later and now in a posh bedroom suburb, my next door neighbor inherited a first gen sedan from his sister.Outside of museums or vintage MB repair shops or dealers, those are the only two 300s I’ve seen in the wild.