1955 Mercedes-Benz 300S Coupe

Stuttgart’s choice of pre-WWII, 540K designer Hermann Ahrens masked brilliant new engineering with an image of the past

by John Olson

More expensive than the 300SL sports car and almost double the price of a contemporary Cadillac, the Mercedes-Benz 300S was one of the world’s most exclusive automobiles. Elegantly styled in the prewar manner, yet technologically up to date, the 300S was built to the Stuttgart firm’s uncompromising standards. Such conservative luxury produced predictable results: Only 760 300S/Sc cars left the factory between 1951 and 1958.

The 300S was a short-wheelbase derivative of the 300 saloon, one of Mercedes-Benz’s first all-new designs of the postwar era, which had debuted at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1951. The 300 re-established Mercedes-Benz in the front rank of prestige car manufacturers.

Although Mercedes-Benz would adopt unitary chassis/body construction for its lower- and mid-priced cars as the 1950s progressed, the retention of a traditional separate frame for the 300 family enabled a variety of coachbuilt body types to be offered. The 300’s...