1954 Mercedes-Benz 300B Saloon

Description

Daimler-Benz’s flagship in the 1950s was the 300 series, favoured by Heads of State and Captains of Industry alike - indeed, the big 300 saloons were indelibly linked with German politicians, nicknamed ‘Adenauer’ after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.  Having largely recovered from the devastation of the Second World War, Mercedes-Benz set about building the finest luxury saloon on the market and Stuttgart’s engineers succeeded admirably; when the 300 was announced in 1951 it was unquestionably one of the most sophisticated cars on the market.  The heart of the new model was a new 2996cc six-cylinder engine with a light alloy head, chain-driven camshaft and seven-bearing crankshaft, the same unit that went on to power the legendary Gullwing.  The twin Solex carburettors had an automatic choke and the motor developed 115 bhp, enough to haul the heavy 300 around at very respectable speeds. Other notable features included fully independent suspension and a hypoid bevel final drive and an all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox.  The Transatlantic styling gave the big Mercedes real presence, while the interior was certainly luxurious enough to satisfy the most discerning customers, awash with leather and fine timber cappings – even a division if the car was to be chauffeur driven. Mercedes-Benz updated the 300 (the new model was known as the 300B) in March 1954, extracting more power through better carburetion and an increased compression ratio, along with stronger brakes and lower gear ratios for improved acceleration.  In total just 1,639 300B saloons and a further 136 cabriolets were made, a fraction of these with right-hand drive steering and few found their way to Australia thanks to the prohibitive list price.