Mercedes-Benz, during its chrome-bumper era, could never be accused of making changes for change's sake. Instead, it tended to make a careful plan and stick with it. The Ponton of 1953, the first modern, unitary-bodied Mercedes passenger car, was the genesis of a post-war concept that would carry the marque through to the '70s. It was nothing more than a beautifully engineered and built three-box, five-seat, overhead-cam-engined saloon car with swing-axle rear suspension that, across a typical nine-year production cycle, was expected to serve as a diesel taxi workhorse while also, in its six-cylinder form, cutting the mustard as luxury transport.
So if the 1959 Fintail range was little more than a safer, more fashionable Ponton, then the W108 - and its various extrapolations was really just a tidied-up Fintail with a variety of six-cylinder and V8 engine options. Certain glamour models such as the 300SL and 300 Adenauers fell outside of this mainstream engineering rationalism, but even the pretty Pagoda SL series was really just a prudent development of Fintail technology.
The elegant 'square-back' W108s and W109s began to establish a more prestigious line of Mercedes saloons - not officially an S-Class yet but, significantly, offering no four-cylinder or diesel models in a range that could only extend itself up, never down.
Behind the scenes in the mid-1960s the Stuttgart engineers were cultivating plans for a new, medium-sized saloon range, known collectively as the W114 and W115, that would not only supplant the W110/111/112 models (whose baroque styling was falling rapidly out of favour), but also establish a new chassis bloodline that would form the basis of the firm's engineering through to the end of the '80s.
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Classic & Sports Car.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring