One of only 830 Cabriolet As built
Among the most beautiful designs of its era
Still in largely unrestored state after 75 years
Original leather interior and convertible top
When Mercedes-Benz unveiled the 170 S in 1949, the Wirtschaftswunder was still some way off. Germany was clearing up, rebuilding and, if it was driving at all, doing so largely out of necessity. And then, suddenly, there was this Mercedes. Plenty of chrome, sweeping wings and a stately body that looked as though the previous ten years had simply never happened.
The 170 S was not entirely new, of course. Its technical foundations came from the 170 V, whose design dated back to the pre-war years. After the war, Mercedes had initially picked up exactly where it had been forced to stop in 1942. But the 170 S was larger, wider and considerably more refined. The advertising department in Untertürkheim described the two-seater Cabriolet A as a ‘masterpiece of automotive craftsmanship’. And that rather neatly explained where Mercedes was heading. After years of austerity, a Mercedes was allowed to be a luxury once again.
Beneath the long bonnet sat a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine producing 52 bhp. That sounds modest today, but it was enough for around 120 km/h. More important, in any case, was the manner in which the Mercedes got there. Independent front suspension, a swing axle at the rear and a remarkably sophisticated chassis made the 170 S a thoroughly comfortable touring car. Speed here was less a question of getting there than of how one conducted oneself along the way.
Inside, too, there was little to suggest the automotive austerity of those years. Plenty of room, fine materials and workmanship that once again displayed the standards for which Mercedes had been known before the war. Alongside the four-door saloon came the cabriolets, making it abundantly clear that Stuttgart was once again building cars for people who did not merely need to get somewhere. In addition to the Cabriolet A, there was the more spacious Cabriolet B, with a second row of seats and windows behind the doors. Only 830 examples of the former were built, while production of the latter was almost twice as high.
In 1951, the 170 S received a number of detail improvements before evolving shortly afterwards into the 170 Sb. Its real significance, however, lay less in any technical sensation. It was a car of transition – between the pre-war and post-war eras, between reconstruction and new prosperity, between the Mercedes of old and the marque that would once again rise to the international luxury class in the years ahead. The 170 S did not need to be particularly fast or look particularly modern to achieve that. It possessed something perhaps even more important at the time: bearing. And plenty of it.
In 1986, a blank German registration document was issued for this Cabriolet A in Aachen, with the preparation of an appraisal stated as its purpose. And although that appraisal itself is no longer present, the car’s condition then was presumably much as it is today. For this Mercedes 170 S remains in largely unrestored original condition: its first leather, its first hood, and paintwork that has only been touched in here and there.
In 2007, its last owner, a collector from Dortmund, put the beautifully proportioned Cabriolet A back on the road. Still unrestored 75 years after it was first delivered, the Mercedes will require a little attention before it is ready to stretch its legs again, having seen very little use in recent years. Thanks to its robust and straightforward mechanicals, however, this exceedingly handsome Cabriolet A should soon be back on the road, demonstrating what Mercedes meant at the time by the ‘perfect harmony of performance and driving characteristics’ and the ‘distinguished style of its exterior design’.