M23

Shown at the Berlin motor show in February 1934, the Typ 130 was the first series-production rear-engined Mercedes-Benz. The side-valve four stood upright behind the rear axle with the gearbox ahead of it, mounted in a backbone frame forked at the tail; the rear wheels hung on a swing axle with coil springs, the fronts on two transverse leaf springs with no axle between them, and the steering was rack-and-pinion. A Solex updraft carburetor, 1.3 liters, 92 km/h — a small car built to an idea rather than to a budget.

The idea had an arithmetic problem. Sixty-five per cent of the car's weight sat on the rear axle, which is a great deal to ask of a swing axle, and the handling that followed did the model no favors at all. It was withdrawn in 1936 after 4,298 cars, sold as tourers, saloons, cabriolet-saloons and a Kübelwagen. Stuttgart tried once more with the 170 H, which used a bigger engine, a longer wheelbase and rearranged weight distribution to cure the same fault. That did not sell either, and the rear-engined Mercedes-Benz ended there.