In early 1961, Mercedes-Benz rolled out a luxury coupe version of its W111 “Heckflosse” platform: the first of the modern S-Class coupes, with no tail fins, but a sleek pillarless hardtop body. Motor Trend sampled the new 220SE coupe in April 1962 and seemed strangely baffled by it, recognizing its fine craftsmanship, but unsure what exactly it was supposed to be.
According to the AMA, U.S. automakers built almost 1.3 million hardtops in 1961. Roughly one in every eight new domestic cars sold in this country back then was a two-door hardtop coupe. So, you’d think an American automotive editor of that time would immediately understand a car like the Mercedes-Benz 220SE coupe, an elegant but conservatively tailored two-door hardtop, designed by Paul Bracq and sharing its platform with the W111 Mercedes 220SE sedan.
Nonetheless, Motor Trend editor Charles E. Nerpel seemed rather at a loss:
IT WOULD BE very difficult to classify in a few words the Mercedes 220-SE coupe. Is it a sports car with the added luxury of a limousine or a plush, comfortable, quiet, five-passenger two-door with sports car characteristics?
For someone looking at this car strictly from an American perspective, I can see the confusion: The 220SE coupe cost thousands of dollars more than a Cadillac Coupe de Ville, but it was a compact car with a small six-cylinder engine, stick shift, and a distinct lack of the power accessories U.S. buyers expected of high-end models. Someone in the hinterlands who’d never seen one of these cars before might conceivably assume it was some kind of pricey furrin’ sports car.
Still, if you gave it more than a passing glance, there was really nothing very racy about the 220SE coupe, nor did Mercedes intend there to be. The coupe’s object was to offer all the luxury of what Mercedes later called its S-Class cars in a more “personal” package. It was slightly more aerodynamic than the sedan and had a slightly lower center of gravity, but the coupe was actually a bit bigger than the sedan and over 150 lb heavier, so it wasn’t significantly more athletic in any quantifiable way.
If Nerpel was really confused, he could have simply referred to contemporary Mercedes-Benz advertising, which spelled out the concept clearly enough: “a veritable coupe of state” for “the discriminating few who can afford to be seen in this, the finest of machines,” offering “the dignity of diplomacy … in the restful silence of complete discretion.” A prestige piece, in other words.
Nerpel again:
Inside, this craftsmanship is immediately apparent in the finish of the wood-paneled dash, the sliding and reclining individual front seats and bench-type rear seat with folding arm rest, all in full leather, smooth acoustical headlining, and the padded sun visors. Attention to fine detailing is in evidence everywhere, with added touches of functional trim to insure a continued high-quality appearance, regardless of time and wear. As the door clicks closed with the precision fit of a fine cabinet, the luxury of the passenger compartment is more appreciated.
Once inside, however, the luxury begins to wed itself with the sports car influence. Close at hand and conveniently located on the driveshaft tunnel between the front seats is the short-stroke shifting lever for an all-synchromesh, four-speed transmission. Steering wheel size and angle are just right for maximum handling ease, and a large tachometer, companion to the dash-mounted speedometer, spells out the engine speed and shift points at a glance.
The controls were the other area where the 220SE coupe felt sportier than the sedan, even if it wasn’t any faster.
The W111 sedans had an odd vertical speedometer and column shift, which German testers generally didn’t like.
The coupe (and subsequently the cabriolet) had a new instrument panel with a more orthodox round speedometer and a tachometer, plus a floor shifter.
Like the W111 sedan, the 220SE coupe had some useful safety features, including a padded dash and switchgear designed to cushion what American safety advocate William Haddon Jr., M.D., later called “the second collision.” Nerpel attributed these to “European safety laws,” but a lot of the credit really goes to Hungarian-born Daimler-Benz engineer Béla Barényi. Thanks to Barényi, the W111 and W112 cars even had front and rear crumple zones — not at all usual practice in this era, and not required by contemporary UNECE type approval rules.
A big selling point of these old-school Mercedes-Benz cars was their sense of implacable solidity. Nerpel explained:
Set this all inside a self-supporting steel body of superior finish and weld it to a very rugged box-section frame — and you have a solid, safe unit capable of withstanding thousands of miles of rattle-free pounding, all with a curb weight of slightly over 3000 pounds. The engine, transmission and front suspension are completely isolated from the rest of the chassis body assembly by mounting them separately on their own sub-frame and then rubber-mounting the entire unit to the body-carrying assembly.
I assume Nerpel didn’t have complete manufacturer specifications when this test was written (you’ll notice that there was no data panel), but the curb weight of the 220SE coupe was actually about 3,200 lb, fairly heavy for its size. The Mercedes W111 was a large car by contemporary German standards, and the coupe was significantly heavier than the sedan.
The coupe used the same 2,195 cc (134-cid) six as the injected 220 sedan. In the U.S., this M127 engine was rated at 134 gross horsepower (its net output was 120 DIN-PS, about 118 hp) with Bosch two-plunger mechanical fuel injection.
Nerpel repeatedly stated in the text that the Bosch injection system “injected [fuel] directly into the combustion chamber,” but the M127 engine in the W111 cars had actually switched to port injection. This was a lot cheaper than the direct injection system used in some earlier Mercedes 3-liter sixes, which had also caused problems with oil dilution. With port injection, the M127 engine could still be fussy on a cold start, but once warm, it was flexible and very smooth.
For a European car of the early ’60s, a 220SE coupe was respectably fast, and in all-out acceleration, it could keep pace with some American V-8 sedans. However, you had to wring it out for best performance, and the gearing, optimized for top speed, was awfully short for American freeway driving — the engine was turning about 4,000 rpm at 70 rpm in fourth. Although Motor Trend didn’t include a full data panel, the text presented the following acceleration times:
- 0 to 30 mph: 3.5 seconds
- 0 to 45 mph: 7.2 seconds
- 0 to 60 mph: 12.5 seconds
These figures very closely measured what the British magazine The Autocar had managed with a RHD coupe.
Nerpel reported that the fuel injection “makes such waste-free use of the gasoline that 20 mpg in the 65-to-70-mph cruising range is considered normal.” That was true, but the German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport recorded only 15 mpg overall, and flat-out Autobahn driving could push fuel economy below 13 mpg — pretty good compared to a Lincoln or a Cadillac, but not an economy car.
Despite Nerpel’s praise for its “sports car handling,” the 220SE coupe wasn’t that sporting to drive. Its standard manual steering was actually slower than the sedan’s; Autocar complained that it was precise but “rather ponderous … lacking the quick sports-car type of steering response.” The 220SE felt far more at home in fast touring, with excellent straight-line stability, and unlike a lot of contemporary American cars, it didn’t lose its composure on broken pavement. Motor Trend praised the coupe’s “good grip and comfortable ride even on very rough, wet roads.”
The 220SE coupe still had a swing axle rear suspension, but it was of the newest “single-pivot” type, with a single cardan joint below the differential and a transverse compensator spring to mitigate the nasty jacking and tuck-under effects that afflicted the early Chevrolet Corvair. If you pushed hard enough, the Mercedes would still oversteer, but there were only a few situations where it was likely to bite you, like a crest in the road that abruptly unloaded the rear wheels in mid-curve.
Oddly, Mercedes didn’t offer radial tires even as an option (although of course most survivors have them today), but the coupe did come with standard power brakes with finned rear drums and Girling front discs. Nerpel said these gave the coupe “straight, fade-free stopping ability with very little foot pedal pressure.” The brakes on many domestic cars of the time also offered low effort, but usually faded badly in heavy or repeated use, and whether they’d stop in a straight line was anybody’s guess. (The 220SE sedan adopted the coupe’s disc/drum brakes in April 1962.)
Nerpel’s review didn’t come to any real conclusion — the Motor Trend text just sort of trails off — and I got the impression he was still struggling with his initial question about what kind of car this was supposed to be. Curiously, there’s also no mention of the price, but as of September 1961, the 220SE coupe listed for $8,746, enough to buy a 220SE sedan ($5,164) AND an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. The list price might not have been finalized at the time Nerpel drove the car, but if it was, maybe that was why he seemed to be straining so hard to describe this as some new kind of luxury sports car, rather than just a more exclusive hardtop W111.
Conceptually, the 220SE two-doors weren’t really THAT different from a four-seat Thunderbird or other domestic personal cars. However, the way Mercedes positioned and priced the coupe and cabriolet, while not unusual for high-end European models, just didn’t jibe with how American manufacturers of this time approached luxury models. Mercedes-Benz was content to produce these two-door cars in modest numbers (combined 220SE coupe and cabriolet production totaled 16,902 from 1961 to 1965) with high-quality materials at very hefty prices. This worked — for a while, there was a year-long waiting list — because buyers could be assured of exclusivity and prestige as well as fine engineering. By early 1962, there were also even pricier 300SE (W112) coupe and cabriolet models, but you had to be loaded to afford any of the two-door Heckflossen, and there were no cheaper carbureted or four-cylinder hardtops to steal their thunder.
U.S. luxury automakers hadn’t had much luck with that kind of approach since well before WW2, and exclusivity wasn’t really the Detroit way. Any desirable feature senior U.S. models had, from hardtop body styles to V-8 engines and automatic transmission, the cheaper ones soon got too, which sold more cars, but inevitably diluted their prestige. Ford and GM had tried the high-quality/low-volume/high-price model with the Continental Mark II and Eldorado Brougham, but they couldn’t make the numbers work, so they finally concluded that it was better to keep costs down and volume high, even for high-end models. It made good business sense, but over time, it became a wedge that enabled Mercedes, BMW, and other high-end imports to challenge and eventually displace the domestic brands in cachet.
Looking at this 220SE coupe, you might wonder why: It’s attractive and tasteful, but not dazzling, and while it had some definite virtues, Mercedes charged through the nose for them. For the money, a lot of Americans of the time would have been happier with a loaded Coupe de Ville and a nice European vacation. However, for some buyers in some segments, lower price is not a virtue; cheap is common, and common is degrading. There was absolutely no fear of THAT with these Mercedes coupes. There were other models that might outrun them or outcorner them, but as the “Coupe d’Etat” ad said, there were precious few personal cars in the world that could match a two-door Mercedes-Benz for discretion or dignity.
Related Reading
CC Tech: 1961 Mercedes-Benz K4A Automatic Transmission – “Mercedes Builds A Brain Box” (by me)
Curbside Classic: 1962 Mercedes Benz 220 SE Coupe (W111) – Old World Charm (by Rich Baron)
CC Capsule: 1963 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE (W111) Coupé – Unaccustomed As I Am To Shutting Up… (Tatra87)
CC Capsule: 1963 Mercedes-Benz 220SE (W111) – Just A Bit Of Fin (Tatra87)
Automotive & Design History: Mercedes-Benz W110/111/112 Fintails – Béla Barényi And The Elusive Pluckenheckflosse (by Don Andreina)
Anyone notices the instrument was from VDO just like many other German automobiles. So Mercedes did not and doesn’t make its instruments?
Why should they have done? It is doubtful that the instruments would have been any better if a three-pointed star had been printed on instead.
I can tell you definitively, the brakes stopped straight and true, and RIGHT NOW until you overheated them as I once did in the High Sierras trying to keep up with an RZ7 powered Spridget with a Ford 9″ rear axle .
I was keeping up but when the brakes began to overheat I stopped .
Anyway, these would pretty much run rings around any American car at the time and the road holding was amazing, I’m sure there ar old film adverts of one of these Coups blistering up a dirt road, round a 90 degree bend to find a hay wagon in the middle of the narrow road, the Mercedes pulls a high speed maneuver that would have spun a Corvette and keep on going .
Add in the supremely all – day comfortable seats and you’d see that these were _drivers_ cars not plodding luxo-barges .
FWIW, VDO made beautiful gauges but they were very cheap and this shows up in all the millions of VDO speedometer equipped vehicles that suddenly lose the odometer function .
-Nate
I actually discussed this with a VDO engineer some time back. They are capable of making odometers that last millions of miles. They sell those to semi-truck manufacturers. All the OEMs that make gauges can make anything a car manufacturer specs, so don’t blame VDO, blame the manufacturer price constraints
In Australia, these Mercedes Benz coupes during the 1960s sold for half what we paid for a new Cadillac. As an example.
A brand new 1962 Cadillac (6 window) Sedan DeVille as a brand new car, in Australia, in 1962 sold close to 10,000 Australian Pounds (Australia converted to dollars in 1966).
A brand new 1962 Mercedes Benz 220SE coupe could be purchased for around 3,500 Australian pounds. Even the Mercedes Benz 300SE Coupe sold for less 4,500 Australian pounds. Keep in mind that a brand new 1962 Holden sold for just under 1,000 Australian pounds.
These Mercedes Benz cars were built in right hand drive while the Cadillac DeVille had to be converted to right hand drive. This added considerably to the cost, but Cadillacs as a result were always much more expensive than Mercedes Benz in Australia.
I’m a bit surprised at your MT verdict bafflement, Aaron. For (probably) less money, a coupe de Ville had vast amounts more acceleration, and powered everything, and effective climate control to boot. It was also effectively silent. Realistically, the grand old Merc was no better made than the Caddy because of manufacturing technology then. Enthusiasts (like CC’ers) know the German was superior at speed and in corners, but that little motor was also quite roary, the seats a tad unforgiving, the ride bump-thump noisy, the performance quite hard to access, the a/c rather low-grade (in comparison), and the powered things just weren’t there.
What you end up with, for them, is a quite large, firm-riding, somewhat under-engined and noisy car, that would indeed seem to be half-sporty, with all those characteristics – and all for a stonking great price. An odd duck in that way, at least in the US context, which is what the review seems to me to reflect.
Please forgive me for speaking up again – but I simply have to get this off my chest:
True luxury is being able to afford to pay more for less.
More or less.
I grew up in the hinterlands and I thought this was the top dog luxury car of the day. Kind of a German Buick Riviera or even a Lincoln Continental Mk III before its’ time.
Did anyone else have the Matchbox version which I cherished? Closest I ever came to owning one.
I had the later 300SE, but have since picked up a slightly tatty 220SE too. As was usual then the newer model was a slightly larger scale, even though the real ones shared the same basic body. Sadly I lost my star off the radiator back in the ’60s, but otherwise it’s fairly good condition.
I don’t have that standard wheel 220SE, but rather the Superfast model 330SE that replaced it a few years later. By then (1970) you only got the opening trunk (edit: as Bernard Taylor got to just before me! :-)), but not opening doors. It does seem that there was a very early 330SE model that had both opening doors and trunk, and I’m guessing that this was largely the same stamping as your version. In its own way, I think that Matchbox produced more variations on these cars than did Mercedes.
I had the Matxhbox versions…all of which were popular at the time. That is part of the reason these cars don’t seem that rare and exotic to me, even though they were just that in the “real world.”
What a snoozer. Just buy a W198
A comparison is made between this Mercedes and the Continental Mark II–and yes, I believe this big M-B coupe is a much more beautiful, elegant, and honest design than the Mark II. It’s what the designers of the Mark II were trying to achieve, but they couldn’t quite get there. I’ve never been a fan of the Mark II’s phony tire hump. (Say what you want about the 1958-60 Lincolns; at least they lacked that “feature” and looked quite sharp from the rear).
I’m sure the Mark II and the Benz drive quite differently. Which is better? It would come down to personal taste and preference. I guess the ideal situation is buy them both and switch between the two. 🙂
I see it.
The Continental was sold to movie stars and Elvis. I’m sure Mercedes had similar aspirations and the more sedate styling didn’t draw attention from the unwashed so I bet they were seen in Monaco and Paris as well as Hollywood.
The Continental was sedate for the era however.
> I’ve never been a fan of the Mark II’s phony tire hump. (Say what you want about the 1958-60 Lincolns; at least they lacked that “feature” and looked quite sharp from the rear).
The Mark II’s tire hump was not phony – open the trunk and you’ll find the spare tire is exactly where the deck lid contours suggest it is. Not good for cargo insertion/removal ergonomics though.
I love both these cars, and I think they were much in the same vein – at least in pursuit of total quality. My only complaint about the Mark II is that the tire bulge is a bridge too far, and a terrible place to put the spare tire. Otherwise, the Mark showed a better approach to sophisticated styling, and Lincoln would have done well to follow that instead of the massively overdone trend of the late-50s. At least they quickly reversed themselves and showed the way out in ’61. I don’t think any of the big three could commit to that level of quality in the long run; it’s surprising that Ford actually tried, but I think some inside the company were very happy to take advantage of the poor timing and limited success to kill the Mark II. It would have been interesting to see where the Continental brand went if it had continued – if maybe zee tchermans would have had a harder time claiming the status symbol crown in the 70s and 80s.
I came across a couple of these in my shady used car days. What really impressed me was the quality of everything. It was like Daimler had no budget and put the best materials in the cars. The wood and leather were superb. The only real issue was the levers on the heater controls got brittle and broke with age.
The cars didn’t feel slow. The six revved like crazy and even with the automatic the car seemed to accelerate well.
The tin worm did most of these cars in. While MB had superb quality, they didn’t have superb rustproofing.
> It was like Daimler had no budget and put the best materials in the cars.
It wasn’t just “like” that; it was exactly that. They were engineered and built to a standard, not to a cost, using the best functional materials and practices achievable at the time. The accounting department was only there to calculate what it cost to develop and build them, amortize that across the expected production run, then tack on enough profit margin to arrive at a retail price that would keep the company in business (aka the “cost-plus” model).
The W124 and W140 were the last Mercedes made to that standard. After that, they increasingly started following the rest of the industry, with bean-counters targeting a market-competitive retail price, then budgeting development and fabrication costs accordingly. I have a suspicion they used Chrysler to learn about and experiment with cost-cutting measures they wouldn’t dare try on Benzes, then those that worked out fairly well got applied to Benzes, and those that didn’t… well, it was only Chrysler that would suffer for it.
In my opinion the Benz is an elegant and classy design. A big luxury GT coupe, the luxury comes from the quality and exclusiveness. Yes, it had none of the typical Detroit luxury power assists but didn’t need them.
Back in 1980 my brother bought a new BMW 320i, five speed, a/c, and no power assists of any kind. It was such a basic car but it was wonderful. Quality and so honest to drive. He put over 150,000 miles on it. I keep looking for a car that can make me feel the way I did towards that BMW.
Pretty cool, stately. Would have stood out form the other cars nearby, as it would today.
Anyone notices the engine has not air cleaner unit according to the picture. Where is the air cleaner filter?
It’s fuel injected, so towards the left of that magazine photo you can see 3 pairs of intake runners connected to a log-style plenum, which in turn has a flexible accordion hose at one end leading towards the front where there’s probably an air cleaner housing of some sort mounted next to the radiator.
The heater panel and headlights give me flashbacks to the W108 250S we had when I was very young. I recall some similar thoughts in an old Consumer Reports test of a Rover P4. They commented on both the high build quality and the austere trim. then again cars like the Mercedes and Rover were the embodiment of Sam Vimes’ boot theory as an expensive car that would last for decades where lesser cars would wear out.
The one thing that sticks out on the photo car is the all chrome wheel covers. I expect Mercedes of that era to have color matched wheel covers or bundt style alloy wheels. I’d rock one but prefer the more modern look of a W108 sedan or W114 coupe.
I always wondered how that twin-plunger pump managed with so many pots.
Two cams each and a lot of wall-wetting.
No wonder that it was so inefficient.