One of only around 5,000 European export cars
Preserved in stunningly original condition
With its original hard-top and ski-rack
Perhaps the best preserved 190 SL

Chassis no.: 121.040-10-018034
Engine no.: 121.921-10-018178
Body no.: A121.040-10-0135
Paint: 334 Light Blue
Interior: 955 Leather gray

Provenance:
1960 – Unbekannt, Milano, IT
31/08/1965 – Giacomo Sperotto, Milano, IT
27/05/1968 – Sig. Bozza, Milano, IT
17/01/1975 – Pietro Righetti, Milano, IT
02/02/2008 – Fabrizio Moretti, Vidigulfo, IT

Documents:
Italian Carta di Circulazione (1965)
FIVA identity card (2014)

About the model line:
W 121 B II
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