The Classic Mercedes Convertible That Symbolized '60s Cool

Mercedes-Benz isn`t brief of iconic vehicles. To begin with, its co-founder Karl Benz constructed the primary automobile ever, all of the manner lower back in 1885. That's pretty a declare to fame. Benz and his successors have not rested on their laurels, either. Over the intervening century plus, Mercedes has constructed dozens of beauties, from powerful Maybach-branded Autobahn grand cruisers to snarling race vehicles and class-defining two-seat roadsters.

It's the ones roadsters, traditional and modern, that have, in lots of ways, described the Mercedes-Benz brand. The 300SL, in particular, has been time and again touted because the remaining Mercedes and the finest roadster ever with the aid of using every person from Mecum Auctions to Hot Wheels and Mario Kart.

In its shadow, however, is our preference for the real holder of the "World's Coolest Mercedes" throne. The 300SL's direct successor withinside the pinnacle-quit two-seat roadster marketplace segment, the 230 SL "Pagoda," embodied the '60s fashion and represented a brand new concept of what sports activities vehicles ought to be.

The people's champion

The critical alternate among the 300SL and the 230SL — regarded internally because the W113 — become accessibility. According to Auto Evolution, the 300SL were unique in each feel of the word: pricey and high-powered, with a production run of simply over 3,000 fashions. In that respect, the 230SL wasn't simply the 300SL's successor. It become the a hit merging of that automobile with the 190SL, a relatively underpowered however some distance inexpensive and greater extensively to be had two-seater that offered nearly 26,000 fashions.

Splitting the distinction ought to have supposed disaster, developing a automobile that might neither carry out just like the 300SL nor supply the thrifty thrills of the 190. Instead, Mercedes went to the drafting board and constructed a totally new automobile that exemplified the critical enhancements in engineering that described '60s car design. The 230SL become the primary industrially produced automobile with a protection frame, incorporating cave in zones withinside the the front and rear and a detachable tough pinnacle to enhance protection in rollover accidents.

Safety measures required no compromises in performance, however. At a hundred and fifty horsepower and one hundred forty five foot-kilos of torque, the stiff frame and short pickup of the sensibly priced roadster stored it only some seconds at the back of devoted race vehicles from Ferrari and different mythical marques on hard tracks. Variants at the W113 offered from 1963 to 1971, turning in tens of heaps of fashions international to illustrate what Mercedes-Benz ought to do.