The Mercedes W112 Fintail

By Bernd S. Koehling

The innovative 300SE W112 was the most technically advanced sedan at the time of its launch in 1961. Yet it disappointed its makers in terms of its sales success. The two-door models, introduced in 1962, did not sell much better. This 180-page book, updated in March 2018, tells the W112’s story. It comes with a comprehensive buyer’s guide and looks at their recent price development. These are some of the topics covered:
•The development of the W112
•The 300SE
•The 300SE lang
•The racing history
•The development of the two-door models
•The 300SE Coupe and Cabriolet
•300SE vs. Jaguar Mk 10
•W112 chassis number explained
•W112 data card explained
•What is my W112 worth, with a price development from Feb. 2010 to Feb. 2018
•W112 buyer’s guide
•Paint and interior options
•Technical specifications

A separate chapter is devoted to Fritz Nallinger. He was member of the executive board at Daimler-Benz and in charge of all passenger car activities. This guide ends with a free book offer. Enjoy!

The author Bernd S. Koehling has over 25 Mercedes books and e-books to his credit. They cover cars from the 1936 170V to the 2012 SL R231.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernd S. Koehling
• Release date: Dec 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370490516

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 300SE, SE lang,

300SE Coupe, Cabriolet

W112

1961 – 1967

By Bernd S. Koehling

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2018 Bernd S. Koehling

All rights reserved

CONTENT

Foreword

The Cars

300SE, SE lang W112 (1961 – 1965)

Developing a technical masterpiece

New safety features

The 300SE

The 300SE lang

The racing history

300SE Coupe and Cabriolet (1962 – 1967)

Developing the two-door model

The 300SE Coupe and Cabriolet

The sales performance

Comparing the 300SE with the Jaguar Mk 10

Technical chapters

The chassis number explained

The data card explained

W112 Buyer’s Guide

What is my car worth: 300SE Sedan

What is my car worth: 300SEC

W112 vs. Dow Jones Index

Paint options

Interior color options

Technical specifications

Production history

Fritz Nallinger

About the author

Other books by the author

Free book offer

FOREWORD

First, 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. If you are interested in a printed version, the book is available through a link on my website.

The 300SE was promoted as the successor to the venerable 300 Adenauer. The problem was that its potential customers did not accept it as such. It had all the technical goodies, an engineer-driven company such as Daimler-Benz could have come up with in those days. It was a masterpiece, the engine was a direct descendant from the 300SL and the brand new air-suspension gave it superior handling combined with unparalleled comfort. Yet, the clientele was not convinced. Despite the additional chrome applications the car looked for its price tag too similar to the 220b fintail series and most shockingly, even the 190 Diesel! It also lacked sufficient rear legroom to be fully qualified as a limousine. This problem was addressed in 1963 with the SE lang, but it was already too late. At that time the 300 Adenauer had found its uber-successor: the 600.

Daimler-Benz was in no particular hurry to replace the two-door 300S series. They were slow selling, hand-assembled ultra-luxury cars in the tradition of the pre-war 500K and 540K models. There was not much money to be made this way, but like the 300SL and the 300 Adenauer, they were important to gold-plate the name Daimler-Benz again, as CEO Wilhelm Haspel saw it in the early 1950s.

This time the scenario was different. Take the unaltered chassis of the new W111 Sedan, give it a two-door body and use as many parts off the shelves as possible. Thus the 220SEC and later 300SEC were born. The coupe/cabriolet models were designed by the team around Friedrich Geiger, who was director in the styling department headed by Karl Wilfert. Paul Bracq and Bruno Sacco worked under Friedrich Geiger, Bracq as head of advanced design. The coupe was hailed at its introduction as a true masterpiece of balanced and timeless beauty. And today, over fifty years after their launch, both coupe and cabriolet are still regarded as some of the best designs ever to have left the assembly lines in Stuttgart.

The fintail models were the first cars that were from the beginning designed with Béla 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. Some of these cars were then bought by the company, so that they could be studied more thoroughly.

The relative lack of interest in the W112 (both two- and four door models) during their production continued for many years thereafter in the second hand and later collector market. Few of these cars saw a decent (=expensive) restoration due their low resale value. Luckily, this has changed over the last couple of years; now are they appreciated for what they once stood for and their values have risen accordingly.

Next to the complete history of the W112 series, this book explains the chassis number and data card in detail and a comprehensive buyer’s guide should help sorting out the trouble spots. Recent price developments from February 2010 to February 2018 are discussed and the different paint and interior color options shown. Technical features are dealt with and many recent color photos show the cars’ interesting details, this includes photos of the suspension. A separate chapter talks about member of the board Fritz Nallinger. He was the boss of people like Barényi, Uhlenhaut or Wilfert, who made all these great cars in the 1950s and 1960s possible.

March 2018

Bernd S. Koehling

The 300SE W112/III (1961 – 1965)

Developing a technical masterpiece

On an unspecified day in 1956, Prof. Nallinger, visionary chief engineer and member of the executive board, called into his office Rudolf Uhlenhaut (head of passenger car development), Karl Wilfert (head of body development) and Josef Müller (head of engine development). They needed to discuss the ponton and the 300 Adenauer successor, he said. Two things had been decided upon prior to this meeting: the dimensions of the passenger cell (larger) and the time of the launch (autumn 1959). Everything else, he said, he wanted to leave up to them.

For the Adenauer successor it had been decided to offer it along the new six-cylinder executive car instead of coming up with a brand new model that shared very few components with its smaller siblings. As a revised 300 Adenauer was to be launched in 1957, its successor should not come out in 1959, but only in 1961.

The design of the new Mercedes family of cars had to cater to different markets. That meant that tradition alone would not do anymore. It had to be combined with fashion. Fashion in the late 1950s was on one hand the exuberance of American icons such as Cadillac in 1958/1959 or Lincoln in 1957. On the other hand, it was the more pragmatic, trapez-line oriented approach of Italian designers such as Pininfarina, of whom Wilfert was known to be a great admirer.

Pininfarina's ideas of modern design could be found in the French Peugeot 404 and the British Austin A55 for example. Wilfert and members of his small styling team of just 53 colleagues met Pininfarina on several occasions, they also flew to the US in order to study more closely American design ideas. After plenty of internal arguments, Wilfert was famous and almost feared for, his styling team with young Paul Bracq and Bracq’s superior Friedrich Geiger came up with a proposal that did not only incorporate hints of American styling preferences but it also had sufficient traditional elements incorporated that even a person not interested in cars at all, would immediately recognize the car as a Mercedes.

Geiger had joined Daimler-Benz in 1933 and had been responsible for the designs of two iconic models: the 500K special roadster (at that time he was just 27 years old)