The Mercedes 180, 190 Ponton

By Bernd S. Koehling

The 180 W120 ponton sedan was launched in 1953 and became the first real mass-produced Mercedes. Revised in early 2016, this e-book covers the complete history of both the 180 and 190 models. Chassis number and data card are explained in great detail and a comprehensive buyer's guide can serve as reference for any would-be ponton owner. The book invites the reader to come along for a ride in an old 180D, it deals with a 190D in the adventurous 1959 cross-Africa rally and covers the highly interesting South African "Bakkie".

Like all books by the author, this guide comes with plenty of recent, non-Daimler AG color photos

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernd S. Koehling
• Release date: Nov 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465740649

Bernd S. Koehling

With over 25 books and e-books written about Mercedes-Benz cars, Bernd S. Koehling has proven to be an authority on the brand. Those books cover cars from the 1947 170V to the 2012 SL R231. Bernd has been involved in the Mercedes scene since the early 1970s, when he restored his first 170 Cabrio B. Since then he has not only owned many classic Mercedes including a 220S, 300d Adenauer, 200D, 250SE, 280SE coupe 3.5, 300SEL, 350SL, 280E, 450SE, SLK230, he has also gained a wealth of knowledge and experience, which he shares with his readers in his books. Bernd has always considered Mercedes one of his favorite car manufacturers and has driven almost all Mercedes models built since the 1950s. His other weakness revolves around British cars, here especially Jaguar and Alvis. If you would like to know more about Bernd's books or want to read his blog with selected Mercedes stories, why don't you visit his website: benz-books.com

Book preview

MERCEDES - BENZ

The Mercedes Ponton

180/190 W120, W121

1953 – 1962

By Bernd S. Koehling

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 Bernd S. Koehling

All rights reserved

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CONTENT

Foreword

The Cars

180/190 W120/W121 (1953 – 1962)

Developing the first modern Mercedes sedan

The technical aspects

The 180 and 180D

The 180a, b, c

The 190 and 190D

The racing history

The coachbuilders

The South African bakkie

The sales performance

Experiencing the 180D

Technical chapters

The chassis number explained

The data card explained

Buying a ponton car

The paint options

The interior colors

Technical specifications

Production history

About the author

One last thing

FOREWORD

First of all I would like to thank you for having purchased this book and I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It is part of an e-book series that covers all cars produced by Daimler-Benz during the 1950s and 1960s.

This was an exciting time for Daimler-Benz, as it slowly started to develop the export business, which was less than ten years after the war not an easy undertaking. Especially the participation at the London Motor Show in October 1953 was done with a certain amount of apprehension. But luckily and despite strong British competition, the visitors were quite interested in new cars such as the 180 and as one Daimler-Benz employee later remarked, the crowd was bigger than they had ever experienced at any other show before.

Risks had to be taken and rewards were sometimes doubtful. Nobody at Daimler-Benz for example had anticipated at the end of the 1940s that the Diesel would become such a big hit with consumers. But the 1950s were also a time to finally wave good-bye to prewar styling. True classics like the 300 sedan lived till the early 1960s, but as their sales performance showed, at the end people wanted to see something different and the introduction of the new 180 ponton series in 1953 was the first step into that direction. From a design point of view it was not an easy task for the team around Karl Wilfert, as they had to find the right balance between traditional minded customers and new market demands.

It was also a time, where more modern engines for the 180 right from the launch had to be shelved as due to a booming economy suppliers were booked solid for months and could not deliver the necessary machinery tools. Global sourcing had not been invented yet.

For Daimler-Benz the 1950s started with an old warmed-up four-cylinder car dating back to the 1930s. Management had big uncertainties of what the future might have in store for them. The decade ended with an impressive line of modern cars, which were ready to take on the best that competition could throw at them.

Completely revised in March 2016, this e-book includes now a buyer’s guide and a look at the paint and interior options that were available for the four-cylinder ponton cars. Two other chapters explain in detail the chassis number and the data card. The latter one was naturally at the time of the launch in 1953 not yet very detailed. That is why we will also look at a 1961 data card that a 180c would have been equipped with.

If you are interested, this guide is also available in a printed version as part of the book: MERCEDES-BENZ, The 1950s, Volume 2. It covers next to the four-cylinder ponton its six-cylinder sibling, the 190SL and the iconic 300SL. Further details can be found on my website.

March 2016

Bernd S. Koehling

MB 180 W120 BI-IV (1953 – 1962)

MB 180D W120 DI-III (1953 – 1962)

MB 190 W121 BI, BIII (1956 – 1961)

MB 190D W121 DI-II (1958 – 1961)

Developing the first modern Mercedes

It was early 1953 and Daimler-Benz faced one of the most important new car introductions in its recent history. While the 170 clearly dated back to the prewar era, the 220 was merely an upgraded 170. And the 300, although widely claimed as a modern postwar luxury car, still carried plenty of prewar genes in its chassis and its design.

Something more dramatic needed to be done and finally it was delivered. The 180 sedan (W120) was introduced in September 1953 and was Daimler-Benz’ first true postwar design. It already started to evolve in 1950, one year before the 300 was launched. By October 1951 Hermann Ahrens had a smaller version of the 300 on a 170Sb chassis ready for testing. This car could become the successor of the 170. Ahrens had been head of design before the war and was responsible for some bodies of milestones such as the 540K. After the war he was in charge of the truck and bus design department. Despite this, he had been head of the team that designed the 300 and 300S. Naturally his proposal for a modern 170 successor looked somewhat similar to the bigger 300 sedan.

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Spy-shot of the Ahrens designed 170 successor during a test drive. It was the first ever photo of a not yet launched automobile and prompted manufacturers to have their prototypes in future heavily disguised

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Another Ahrens study showed a widened grille and still the 300-like separate front fenders

Yet the executive board looked for something more modern. They knew that the Borgward Hansa with its ponton design, launched already in 1949, was the way to go for Mercedes.

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A Borgward Hansa 1500

Fritz Nallinger, chief engineer and member of the board assigned Karl Wilfert,