The Mercedes W110 Fintail

By Bernd S. Koehling

The 190 W110 was in 1961 the smallest model, Mercedes had on offer. Its diesel version continued the ponton story of legendary reliability. Updated in December 2016, this 150-page reference book
- offers a comprehensive Buyer's Guide
- explains in great detail their Chassis Number and Data Card
- looks at their price development until November 2016
- covers all 190, 200 and 230 variations
- comes with over 130 mostly recent non-Daimler AG color photos. This includes pictures of the suspension and
- discusses their paint and upholstery options.
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The book finishes with full technical details, the annual production history of each model and a chapter about head of design Karl Wilfert, whose department styled the fintail cars. Very few still know of him.

The author Bernd S. Koehling has over 25 Mercedes books and e-books to his credit. They cover cars from the 1947 170V to the 2012 SL R231.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernd S. Koehling
• Release date: Nov 4, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465820211

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 W110 Fintail

190c, 200, 230

1961 – 1968

By Bernd S. Koehling

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 Bernd S. Koehling

All rights reserved

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CONTENT

Foreword

The Cars

190/200/230 W110 (1961 – 1968)

The development of the 190 fintail

The technical aspects

The safety features

The 190 and 190D

The 200 and 200D

The 230 six-cylinder

The coachbuilders

The sales performance

Experiencing the 190D

Technical chapters

The W110 VIN explained

The W110 data card

What is my car worth

W110 Buyer’s Guide

The paint options

The interior color options

Technical specifications

Annual production figures of each model

Head of design Karl Wilfert

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.

The ponton series had been a great commercial success in many European markets. In order to improve the sales potential further, one focus of the Daimler-Benz executive board was to look for new still untapped markets. The biggest such opportunity was of course North America and it was agreed that the new models needed to have more appeal to customers in the New World. Thus the fintail was born. As it turned out, the styling department had already second thoughts about their new design before the cars were even launched, but it was too late. Nevertheless the cars were well received inside and outside of Europe. They were a further testament to the company's mantra that the best is just good enough, or as the editor of a Swiss automotive magazine once wrote: "They just don't know, how to build bad cars".

Not so well received though was the concept of uni-body construction. People balked at the idea to have an expensive six-cylinder car in their garage that looks very similar to its cheaper four-cylinder cousin. What had been grudgingly tolerated in the 1950s was not anymore accepted in the 1960s. The owner of a 190D did not mind of course to drive a car with the same interior and trunk space of the more expensive six-cylinder cars.

The fintail models were the first cars designed with Bela Barényi's safety concept in mind. As there was still very little experience with crumple zones in the real world it was agreed with the local police that whenever there would be an accident with a Mercedes fintail involved, engineers from Daimler-Benz would be called to the scene in order to study the cars, so that the safety system could be refined further. At the end plenty of these cars would be bought by the company, so that they could be studied more thoroughly.

After the success of the 300SL and 190SL in the North American market, the fintails were the first serious attempt by Daimler-Benz to develop this market further. It was initially a very rough and very costly attempt, but at the end it paid off.

This e-book has been completely revised with more chapters added. The W110 chassis number and data card are explained in great detail, the recent price development up to November 2016 discussed and another chapter covers the different paint and interior choices. The engines are covered in more detail and the technical side has been extended with more photos of the suspension.

Some of you have also asked me, whether it is possible to include more information about the men that were responsible for all these wonderful cars. This e-book has that is why a chapter added, that covers the career of Karl Wilfert in Daimler-Benz. Other books cover people like Nallinger, Uhlenhaut, Barényi or Hoffman. Wilfert was not only head of passenger car design from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, he was also a highly talented and occasionally controversial manager. On the other hand he is little known nowadays, that is why I thought that a chapter of this book should be devoted to him. I hope, you agree.

December 2016

Bernd S. Koehling

MB 190c W110 BI (1961 – 1965)

MB 190Dc W110 DI (1961 – 1965)

MB 200 W110 BII (1965 – 1968)

MB 200D W110 DII (1965 – 1968)

MB 230 W110 BIII (1965 – 1968)

The development of the small fintail

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When the new four-cylinder W110 BI (internal code 110.010) was launched in April 1961, it became obvious that Daimler-Benz had perfected its concept of a single body for its entire range of cars even further. From the A-pillar onwards, all four and six-cylinder cars shared the same body and chassis, which included not only passenger compartment and trunk, but also the fine-tuned suspension of the more expensive versions. While the difference in wheelbase between the six- and four-cylinder ponton models was 17 cm (6.7 in), it was now reduced to just 5 cm (2 in).

The advantage of a shared body was mainly economical, as Daimler-Benz was able to save on costs for development, construction and the stocking of spare parts. At the end, an almost identical chassis was available in eleven variations for cars from 55 to 170hp. It should also serve as basis for the soon to be launched coupes and cabriolets and with small adaptations later even for the successor models. The advantage for the buyer of a new 190c or 190Dc was that he got a so far unsurpassed combination of comfort, space, safety, quality and long term value for his hard earned money.

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Although not shot from a perfect angle, this picture shows how much bigger the new 190 is

The only problem was, too many six-cylinder ponton owners had previously complained that the 180/190 cars looked almost the same and most shockingly, quite a few of them had been seen with later added additional chrome of the larger models. This made a distinction even more difficult. This time the designers around Karl Wilfert had to come up with something more different. Paul