Other significant changes
230SL helped lift Mercedes Authentic Nate Irving Jersey out of the ashes
The Allied bombing of Daimler Benz's plants in Germany during the Second World War was severe enough that in 1945, M B's board of directors declared the company had "ceased to exist." In spite of this gloomy outlook, workers began returning to the plant in the Unterturkheim district of Stuttgart to clean up and unearth machinery.
The factory was soon busy repairing American army trucks and rebuilding pre war Mercedes Benz 170V cars, which were then traded for badly needed building and production materials.
In mid 1946, when Daimler Benz was given permission by the Allies to resume car production, the company began building versions of those pre war designed 170V models, often with utility boxes for use as trucks.
By the end of 1946 they had produced 214 170Vs, followed by 1,045 in 1947. Revised versions, the 170S and the 170D (diesel) introduced in 1949 still had a strong resemblance to the pre war, four cylinder designs. By 1952 D B had built 100,000 postwar 170s.
The first true postwar designed Mercedes Benzes, the 2.2 litre 220 and 3.0 litre 300, both with six cylinders, were introduced at the 1951 Frankfurt auto show. They were well received, particularly the 300, Germany's finest luxury sedan.
These were followed by the fabulous new race derived 300SL gullwing coupe built from 1954 to 1957, and 300SL roadster from 1957 to 1963. They had modified 300 sedan engines, and the 1954 300SL was the world's first four stroke, gasoline engine passenger car equipped with fuel injection. A less potent carburetted four cylinder 190SL sport car was also produced from 1954 to 1963.
By the early 1960s, it was apparent that in spite of their fine engineering, the 300SL and 190SL were becoming outdated. They were phased out and replaced by the new 230SL introduced at the 1963 Geneva auto show as a convertible, with an optional removable hardtop.
The 230 virtually matched the 190SL's dimensions, although at 1,365 kilograms it was 204 kg heavier. It was 4,287 millimetres long Jacob Tamme Jersey and had a 2,400 mm wheelbase.
The unit construction 230SL's single overhead cam inline six came from the Mercedes 220SE sedan and coupe. Increasing the cylinder bore from 80 to 82 mm brought displacement to 2,306 cc. New Bosch multipoint fuel injection helped the Womens Nate Irving Jersey 230SL produce 170 horsepower, 36 more than the 220SE.
Front suspension was the 190SL's coil springs and A arms. At the rear was Mercedes Benz's low pivot swing axles using a "camber compensator" coil spring mounted horizontally above the differential to help counteract the swing axles' wide camber changes. Brakes were disc front and drum rear, and the standard transmission was an all synchromesh four speed manual, with four speed automatic optional.
The 230SL's styling was much more angular than the 190 SL's and 300SL's. Its grille was dominated by the Mercedes Benz three pointed star, and its most unusual appearance feature was a concave "pagoda" hardtop roof. It looked odd, but allowed a thinner roof, and taller windows for better visibility and easier entry and exit.
Although 230SLs were rallied vigorously, it was intended as a grand touring car, Womens Jacob Tamme Jersey not an out and out sports car like the 300SL. Its performance fell between the 300SL and the 190SL. The 190SL sprinted from zero to 97 km/h in 13 seconds and the 300SL in 7.4 seconds (all figures from Road Track), the 230SL took 9.7.
Top speed was also in between, with the 190SL reaching 161 km/h, the 230 SL 200 and the 300SL 225. Although not in the Ferrari or Corvette league, the 230's performance was respectable.
Other significant changes in the 250SL were increasing the number of main bearings from five to seven, and replacing the front disc/rear drum brakes with four wheel discs.
The 250SL lasted only about a year before it was replaced for 1967 by the 2,778 cc 280SL. The 12 per cent displacement increase yielded only six per cent more power, now 180, due to power sapping emissions hardware. A five speed manual transmission was made optional.
But time was passing the 280SL by, and features such as swing axles were becoming dated. In 1972, the 280SL was replaced by the more modern 350SL V 8. In its nine year run, almost 49,000 230/250/280SLs were sold. Fondly remembered as the quintessential grand touring car, it is now a popular collectible, particularly the 280SL.