Cheers or Jeers: 50,000 Mile 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190 Diesel

[wildmanjoe]

Cheers or Jeers: 50,000 Mile 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190 Diesel

Link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/190D-190Db-MERCEDES-DIESEL-SAME-OWNER-LAST-40-YEARS-RARE-CALIFORNIA-TIME-CAPSULE-/300715258229?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item460406b175

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Just for giggles, here's a 1960 Cadillac interior:

[balthazar]

WMJ, personal thanks for that last pic.

• • •

Uhh, not much here to like IMO - spartan, dated, grotesquely underpowered, no amenities, it's a sedan but only fits 4..... might as well get a '60 American; same car.

[daves87rs]

In good shape...

[Drew Dowdell]

sweet, one of the few cars that gets posted here that I could beat in a race!

[ocnblu]

Looks like it's in good condition, hard to tell with the brown in the photos though, it could be hiding some sins.

Was this the top Mercedes sedan in 1960 in Germany?

Looking at the comparitive photos, dude we DID win WWII. Europe is still different in some ways because of both World Wars being fought on their soil. Conservation of resources is simply a fact of life over there, I guess.

EDIT: after looking at the gallery, this thing is looking CLEAN. The lower body appears smooth in the photos, I'm betting it's all metal, no bondo. The MB-Tex is flawless, I'm sure the seats have been recovered though.

Nice little buggy.

Edited May 24, 2012 by ocnblu

[Robert Hall]

the

Looks like it's in good condition, hard to tell with the brown in the photos though, it could be hiding some sins.

Was this the top Mercedes sedan in 1960 in Germany?

Nice little buggy.

Nah, the 180/190 was kind of like a C-Class. The 300 was the Big Dog..

Edited May 24, 2012 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[balthazar]

^ is that a circa '60?? Looks like a circa '42 from this side of the pond.

Wonder what their fortunes would look like if mercedees had continued thru to today being 15-20 years behind the market, and was marketing 1990 material today?

[Robert Hall]

^ is that a circa '60?? Looks like a circa '42 from this side of the pond.

It was starting to look a bit old by '60...the basic design lasted from '51-62.

[Drew Dowdell]

There was/is a special German love for the 300 design. It was the Adenauer Benz.... basically Germany's "Limo 1" for the first post war Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who was extremely popular with the German people at the time.... and a symbol that Germany would rebuild.

[balthazar]

It's not at all unpleasant, just soooo dated.

^ is that a circa '60?? Looks like a circa '42 from this side of the pond.

It was starting to look a bit old by '60...the basic design lasted from '51-62.

Being basically 20 years behind is far from "a bit behind"...

[David]

A Vehicle best left in the history books.

[smk4565]

Cheers to that. It may be a base model car, but it is 52 years old and in excellent condition, and not very expensive. And it is Mercedes diesel so it will run forever and it is still covered under Mercedes roadside assistance in case you break down.

[balthazar]

Nicer interior, better trimmed :

[Robert Hall]

Nicer interior, better trimmed :

Questionable. The Rambler was quite outdated at the time (the Rambler American was an update of an early '50s design).

[balthazar]

Disagree; much more cohesive design, better hardware.

Look for example how the holes the 190's horn ring is attached thru are so openly exposed.

Mostly to the point- how similar it is to the 190.

[ocnblu]

I agree with balthy in that they are somewhat similar (Rambler and 190), but I think compared to American cars of the time, Benz was only 5-10 years behind in body design. The M-B 300 pictured, if that happens to be a 1960 model, compares to something American from about 1952-1954, when you think of fender integration and greenhouse evolution, at least in my recollection.

I can't think of a decade that had more rapid evolution of car body design than 1950-1960.

Edited May 25, 2012 by ocnblu

[balthazar]

^ I would agree; stylistically, the 190 is circa 53-54 (everything mainstream had integrated rear fenders by '55), but the 300 stylistically is much older.

It still has vestigial running boards, something Cadillac started to minimize in '38 and eliminated entirely by '48. Mercedes was still clinging to them in 60.

Here's a '42 Buick; note the similar fender integration, more cohesive body hardware, the break away to the integrated horizontal grille, smooth surface transitions. Much older, yet still ahead of the 300. Mercedes 300 is somewhere around '42-46 by design cues.

[ocnblu]

Weren't running boards just tucked behind the doors though on some cars? I see what you mean about the protruding rocker panel area on the 300, but there is no rubber step there visible from outside. Vestigial indeed.

M-B did take a conservative, Old World approach to stylistic progress as defined by Americans Postwar.

Mercedes was interested in keeping their grille design largely intact carried through from the old days, which lends an air of timelessness and permanance, but also a bit of difficulty, perhaps, in keeping up with trends.

One minor but telling note: LOVE the nameplate font on the 190, they used that same font for decades, another sign of resistance to trends.