A history of Mercedes-Benz Convertibles

Posted on 08-04-2016 at 15:01 by autoblogger – 32 Comments”

Das Haus has every year a beautiful theme on Europe’s largest klassiekerbeurs and this year is that the history of driving with the roof open at Mercedes.

In the early years of the automobile was an open roof, the standard and had cars, at most, a canopy. Soon there were hard caps to the driver and passengers to protect against wind and weather. The cabriolet or the roadster gained over the status of luxury and sportiness that today still has.

Unknown chapter
The 190E cabriolet (W201) is a rather unknown chapter in the cabriogeschiedenis of Mercedes-Benz. The open baby-Benz is a study from 1990, so late in his career and after the Modellpflege that new bumpers and the plastic side brought. As a leader in the modelrange he got all the luxuries: leather upholstery, koplampwissers and the 2.6 liter six-in-line with 160 hp. Because in such a boulevardcruiser hear a creamy touring and no toxic zestienkleps four-cylinder which, of course, also was available from the 190E 2.5-16. A zachtblauwe metallic color makes it all the way down, for that time.

What is immediately striking about the Mercedes 190E cabriolet is are to thick ass. This is due to the elevated trunk that is needed to the fabric hood in folded condition, and to store. There were engineers and designers still need to find if the car is actually in production was gone. But this rare study model that Mercedes-Benz shows at the Techno Classica comes off.

Mercedes built two pieces as a finger exercise for which model out of his palette is best suited to a roofless variant. That was not this 190E, but the E-class coupe (W124) in 1991 as the convertible came on the market. Because that is slightly larger, the proportions are much better managed, since there is more space available for the folded hood. In addition, there was also space for a full back seat.

Predecessors and descendants
At the Techno Classica is the 190E cabrio in addition to his distant descendant, the recently unveiled C-class cabriolet. That has smooth, supple lines, but once again proves that just the roof cut of an existing four-door quite a bit different than a convertible already on the drawing board-designing with a new modelgeneratie.

Mercedes-Benz will take the visitor back in time to the development of driving with the wind in your hair. Of the mighty 500 K Offener-Tourenwagen (W29) and 500 K Spezial-Roadster (W29) from the pre-war years, 1934-1936, to the elegant S-class cabriolet (W111) from the sixties, with in between the 300’s and post-war elements surprisingly combines. Their lineage is today continued by the S-class cabriolet (A217). Striking actually, because of previous generations of S-class coupé and SEC from the eighties and nineties, there were no open variants.

At that time, was open to drive in a Mercedes reserved for the SL, which is of course also not missing. Mercedes put very useful the facelifted current SL (R231) in addition to his illustrious ancestor, the 300 SL Roadster (W198) in 1957 appeared as the open sister of the famous 300 SL ‘Gullwing’. All models also allow the development of automotive design. How to loose front mud guards with running boards and separate headlamps becoming more and more integrated into the bodywork.

Happy few
What is also interesting is the actual precursor of the 190E cabrio-study and the C-class cabrio, namely the 170’s (W146) from 1949. The sporty, elegant carriage, with rather compact dimensions and a 1.8-litre range positioning of this model lower in the hierarchy, but it was in his time still have a car for the happy few. Remarkable that so soon after the Second world War again market proved to be such models.

The newer types of convertibles, such as the E-class (W124), the two generations of CLK and the outgoing E-class convertible weren’t on the stand of Mercedes, but in the halls of the Techno Classica are plenty of fine specimens to be found at dealers, Mercedes-Benz Classic dealers and private Classic Center of Mercedes-Benz. The klassiekerbeurs in Essen, germany, goes on until Sunday.

Gallery: Mercedes Convertible

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With thanks to Robert van den Oever and Maarten van der Pas for this contribution!