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The Mercedes-Benz W188 was a two-door luxury sports tourer produced by
The 300 Sc (W188) appeared in 1955, featuring upgrades to both its engine and suspension. Following the high-performance 300SL Gullwing's lead a year earlier, the Sc's inline-six received a version of its mechanical direct fuel-injection, which delivered a significantly detuned at 5400 rpm. Mercedes-Benz's "low-pivot" independent suspension was fitted in the rear. Only a pair of chrome strips on either side of the hood visually distinguished it from its precursor.
Prices rose to DM 36,500, and 98 Coupés, 49 Cabriolet As, and 53 Roadsters were built through April 1958.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
between 1951 and 1958. The company's most expensive and exclusive automobiles, the elegant, hand-built 300 S (1951-1954) and its successor 300 Sc (1955-1958) were the pinnacle of the Mercedes line of their era.
The pair's conservative styling belied their technological advances, sharing numerous design innovations and mechanical components with the iconic Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car which was produced by Mercedes-Benz as a gullwinged coupe (1954–1957) and roadster (1957–1963).Werner Oswald: ''Mercedes-Benz Personenwagen 1945–1985''. Motorbuch Ve ...
"Gullwing", including engine, suspension, and chassis.
300 S
The hand-built two-door 300 S (W188) was Mercedes-Benz's top-end vehicle on its introduction at the Paris Salon in October 1951. It was available as a 2-seat roadster, 2+2coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
, and cabriolet (with landau
Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...
bars, officially ''Cabriolet A''). Although mechanically similar to the much larger contemporary four-door 300 (W186), the additional craftsmanship, visual elegance, and 50% higher price tag elevated the W188 to the apex of its era's luxury car
A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars.
The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...
s.
The 300 S was fitted with a high-performance version of the W186's 3.0 L (2996 cc/182 in³) overhead cam, aluminum head M186 straight-6
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bal ...
, the M188. Designed to give reliable service under prolonged hard use, the engine featured deep water jackets, an innovative diagonal head-to-block joint that allowed for oversized intake and exhaust valves, thermostatically controlled oil cooling, copper-lead bearings, and a hardened crankshaft. Triple Solex carburettors and 7.8:1 compression and raised maximum output to at 5000 rpm.
300 Sc
The 300 Sc (W188) appeared in 1955, featuring upgrades to both its engine and suspension. Following the high-performance 300SL Gullwing's lead a year earlier, the Sc's inline-six received a version of its mechanical direct fuel-injection, which delivered a significantly detuned at 5400 rpm. Mercedes-Benz's "low-pivot" independent suspension was fitted in the rear. Only a pair of chrome strips on either side of the hood visually distinguished it from its precursor.
Prices rose to DM 36,500, and 98 Coupés, 49 Cabriolet As, and 53 Roadsters were built through April 1958.
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* * * {{Mercedes-Benz CL-class lineage W188