MERCEDES - BENZ
THE 1950s
The 170S W136, W191
1949 – 1955
By Bernd S. Koehling
Copyright 2012 Bernd S. Koehling
Smashwords Edition
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CONTENT
The Cars
170S/Sb W136/W191 (1949 – 1955)
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 early 1950s were still a difficult time for Daimler-Benz, as it slowly started to develop the business, which was less than five years after the war not an easy undertaking. Manpower was luckily available, but material was difficult to come by in sufficient quality and quantities. On the other hand Daimler-Benz had been more fortunate than other German automotive companies, because their plants were all located in the western part of Germany. Other previously famous brands such as Horch, Adler, Audi or part of BMW were less lucky.
Early in the 1950s prewar styling was still predominant. And although a few companies such as Borgward in Bremen, Northern Germany worked already on more modern designs, Daimler-Benz made the wise decision not to test these waters too early and stick to the tried and tested designs that their customers were accustomed to.
Late in the 1940s the 170S started as a luxury automobile and when it was finally stopped in 1955 it had become a car for the upper middle class. Compared with the pre-war glory of a 540K, the 170S was by those standards a non-starter, an old warmed-up four-cylinder car dating back to the thirties. Yet it helped the company in one of its most crucial moments to regain badly needed confidence, not only within its own work force and customers but also with the banks.
March 2012
Bernd S. Koehling
MB 170DS W191D (1952 – 1953)
MB 170S-V W136 VIII (1953 – 1955)
MB 170S-D W136 VIIID (1953 – 1955)
The new luxury class, the 170S
Towards the end of the forties the German car market looked as follows: General Motors produced through its German subsidiary Opel the Olympia, a very successful 1.5 l (91.5 cu in) medium sized car and the Kapitän, a luxury car that gained fame for its ultra smooth six-cylinder 2.5 l (152.6 cu in) engine. The Kapitän was the most powerful car of its time in Germany and the darling of almost every captain of the industry, most of whom didn’t want to drive or be driven a foreign-made car. Ford offered the 1.2 l (73.2 cu in) Taunus since 1948 and Mercedes had the 170V since July 1947.
Although the 170V was a successful attempt to regain part of its pre-war market share, it was clear that the car could not live up for long to people’s expectations of a luxury car. The type of cars, Mercedes was famous for before the war. Its technical basis was already obsolete prior to the war, as it was designed as a reliable low-tech product for the middle class. In 1938, shortly before the war, Mercedes engineers had already designed a possible and somewhat more up market successor to the W136 I, called W136 II. This car was supposed to have a bigger and more modern all steel body and was based on the modern six-cylinder 230 (W153), which was available from 1938 till 1943.