M188

Unveiled at the Paris salon in October 1951, the 300 S took the Adenauer saloon’s three-liter six and made it something for an owner who drove himself. The wheelbase came down by 15 cm, the bodies were a coupé, a Cabriolet A and a roadster, and the induction side was rebuilt around three Solex carburetors instead of the saloon’s two: 7.8:1 compression, 150 PS against the limousine’s 115, and 175 km/h. Where the 300 was a car to be driven in, this was one to be driven.

Only 560 cars were built with this version of the engine between 1952 and 1955 — 216 coupés, 203 Cabriolet A and 141 roadsters — which makes it rarer than the gullwing 300 SL that has entirely overshadowed it. A few went to outside coachbuilders, Pininfarina among them. The 300 S also stood at the end of something: it and the 300 saloon were the last Mercedes-Benz passenger cars built on a separate chassis frame, every model after them taking the unitary Ponton route. In 1956 direct injection replaced the carburetors and the engine was renumbered M 199.