: ''See

Mercedes-Benz S-Class The Mercedes-Benz S-Class, formerly known as ''Sonderklasse'' (German for "special class", abbreviated as "S-Klasse"), is a series of full-sized luxury vehicle, luxury sedans, limousines and Armored car (VIP), armored sedans produced by the Germa ...

for a complete overview of all S-Class models.'' The Mercedes-Benz W180 is an inline 6-

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

saloon,

coupé 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

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

made from 1954 until 1959. The models associated with the W180

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

code were the 220a and 220S. The W180 was one in a range of Mercedes-Benz models to informally receive the " Ponton" nickname. This was in reference to the unibody-type, pontoon-shaped exterior styling which was also featured on the later W128 line.

220a (W180 I)

Introduced in March 1954, the 220a was a more luxurious and up-scale version of the W120 model 180 with a wheelbase stretched by . of that increase in length was necessary to accommodate the longer straight-6 M180 engine taken from the W187 model 220, that in this application delivered fed by a single carburetor. The passenger cabin was also lengthened by to increase the legroom available to rear-seat passengers. From the side, these six-cylinder cars can readily be distinguished from their shorter four-cylinder siblings by the extra "quarter light" windows incorporated in the rear doors. Production of the 220a ended in April 1956, with 25,937 units produced.

220S (W180 II)

The 220a was succeeded in March 1956 by the 220S, which was externally almost identical, but had an upgraded version of the 2.2L inline-six (, later ), due to the use of twin-carburetors. Visually, the 220S featured a new one piece front bumper, instead of the 3-piece bumper used on the 220a. Also, the twin chrome and rubber strips running under the doors of the 220a were replaced with solid chrome strips. The most obvious difference is the addition of a chrome strip running along the front fenders and doors of the 220S. The 220S was available with a 4-speed column shift manual transmission, with an optional Hydrak automatic clutch. This made use of small microswitches on the gear selector that automatically disengaged the clutch when the driver changed gears. Many cars have subsequently been converted to use a regular manual clutch, due to the high maintenance costs of continuing to use the Hydrak clutch. Also introduced with the 220S was the W105 219, which from the a-pillar forward was essentially a single-carburettor 220a, but rearward from the a-pillar it used the shorter body of the W120/W121 180/190 models. In July 1956 a convertible (two doors, four seats) joined the line-up, and in October 1956 a coupé version followed suit. Some convertibles were finished with folding rear seats to accommodate additional luggage. Until October 1959, 55,279 220S saloons and 3,429 convertibles and coupés were built. The fuel-injected 220SE versions that officially bore the model code W128 were introduced in October 1958 and carried on until November 1960. File:1959 Mercedes-Benz 220S pic5.JPG, 1959 Mercedes-Benz 220S saloon (W180) File:1957 Mercedes Benz 220 S Coupe Lengerich Westf. 17.10 (2) (cropped).JPG, 1957 Mercedes Benz 220 S Coupe File:MB W180 220S cab A.jpg, Mercedes-Benz 220S Convertible (W180)

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{{Mercedes-Benz CL-class lineage W180 W180 Limousines Sedans Cars introduced in 1954