German delivery
Fully documented history
Attractive colour combination
Matching numbers
The idea for the 190 SL came from a native of Vienna who would later become Mercedes-Benz’s New York importer: Max Hoffman. He urged the board in Stuttgart to do something about the company’s—putting it politely—rather conservative model range. Specifically, he envisioned a road-going version of the 300 SL racing car, complemented by an elegant boulevard cruiser built around far more conventional mechanicals. Sure enough, two such prototypes stood side by side at the New York International Motor Sports Show in February 1954.
In the space of just a few months, the 190 SL had been designed and engineered, based on the proven mechanical components of the W 120 and W 121 series. Its four-cylinder engine was an entirely new design, although by no means exclusive to the new sports car. Before long, it would also find its way into the saloon range. Equipped with twin Solex carburettors, the 1.9-litre engine produced a respectable 105 horsepower. At the time, that was more than sufficient to leave the vast majority of other motorists behind, although outright speed was never its strongest suit. Mercedes therefore described the 190 SL in its sales brochures as a „Touring Sports Car.“ While its styling clearly drew inspiration from the 300 SL, the similarities ended there. Beneath its elegant bodywork lay not the spaceframe of its celebrated stablemate, but a shortened version of the saloon’s unitary platform.
By the time the prototypes were unveiled in New York, development of the 300 SL was already considerably further advanced than that of the 190 SL. It would take another year before the latter was ready for series production. The final production version was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in the spring of 1955, and just two months later production commenced in Sindelfingen. Several prototypes were fitted with six-cylinder engines, but series production was abandoned after projected manufacturing costs proved too high and the company’s board refused to give its approval.
Ultimately, the 190 SL was offered in three different configurations: as a Roadster with a folding soft top, as a Coupé with a detachable hardtop, and as a Roadster equipped with both hardtop and soft top. The brochure also featured a lightweight Sports version. Weight was reduced by means of a smaller windscreen, aluminium doors without side windows and the omission of the bumpers. Mercedes hoped to improve the car’s performance and make the 190 SL more attractive to private competition drivers. With only 17 examples built, however, the venture met with rather limited success.
The production models told a very different story. In the end, Max Hoffman was proven right. Like the 300 SL, the 190 SL became an unexpected success, particularly in Hoffman’s adopted home across the Atlantic, where the majority of cars were delivered and sold at considerably lower prices than in Germany. By the end of production in 1963, almost 26,000 examples had been built. Mercedes retired both the 190 SL and the 300 SL—by then available exclusively as a Roadster—and replaced them with a single successor: the 230 SL
This 190 SL was delivered in May 1960 to Johann Hay, a gear manufacturer in Bad Kreuznach. With its second owner, the handsome Roadster moved to Cologne, where it remained until 1990. An appraisal commissioned that same year by its new owner in Leverkusen also provides detailed information on the overhaul of the original engine carried out the year before. Indeed, the 1990s and early 2000s are documented with admirable thoroughness in a hefty file packed with invoices and notes. Whenever the 190 SL required attention, it was generally entrusted to the Mercedes-Benz branch in Dortmund.
From 2012, it formed part of its last owner’s collection. In 2018, the previous owner from Leverkusen borrowed his old Roadster once more for his son’s wedding. Having seen no use in recent years, the 190 SL will require a careful inspection before its mechanicals can be brought back to life.
Repainted some time ago on the outside, the interior features beautifully retrimmed leather seats in the original shade of red. The soft top also appears to be of more recent date. And thanks to its original first German registration document, the history of this 190 SL is documented without any questionmarks.