1954 Mercedes-Benz 300B Limousine

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, to the point where they were nicknamed ‘Adenauer’ after the Chancellor of the day. Having largely recovered from the devastation of the 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 built since the war. 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 twin Solex carburettors had an automatic choke and the motor developed 115 bhp. This, combined with an all-synchromesh four-speed gearbox, was enough to haul the heavy 300 around at very respectable speeds. Other notable features included fully independent suspension and a hypoid bevel final drive. 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. In March 1954, Mercedes-Benz updated the 300 (the new model was known as the 300B) with more power extracted 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.