Reader George K. writes:
“When I was in high school, the scion of one of the wealthy industrial families in my hometown returned from heading the European division with a Mercedes 190SL roadster in British Racing Green. I still think it is one of the sexiest cars I have ever seen.
The 190SL doesn’t get the love it deserves because most people have never seen one (I don’t think that many were sold in the U.S.), plus it was always overshadowed by its 300SL big brother.”
The only knock on the 190SL was that it was underpowered — certainly true when compared to the 300SL. But like Reader George, I love its looks:
Also, unlike most sports cars, the 190’s trunk is large enough to hold several rifle cases (or golf clubs, if you’re of that persuasion).
Want.
I’ll agree that the 190 line ( 55 – 63 – w121 ) model was a good looking car. It has all the styling clues of a 300 SL. and none of the power. A great choice for cruising around in the Summer, Just remember they were pre A/C cars and hopeless in the Winter months anywhere it got cold.
But because my Step-mother and a fair number of her friends all drove the next model up – a 63 to 71 “Pagoda” on their shopping trips to St, Armands Circle in Sarasota that whole model line is forever relegated to ” Chick -Car” status in my mind, but maybe that’s just me.
We drove down to have lunch with some friends on Longboat Key a few months ago. Driving my wife’s Kia around St. Armand’s Circle was a humbling experience.
Back in the Day, when the 300SL and 190SL were in production, the accepted “word” was that MB built the “Baby SL” so that the Playboy owners of the Real SL would have something to buy for the Lady in their Life – It was the Mistress Car.
In 1960 my dad and his brother sold a controlling interest in the small company they had started to a largish corporation (yeah, that was a thing even back then). My parents bought a house in a much nicer neighborhood (I still shared a bedroom with my brother) and went on a nice trip to Europe, where they took delivery of a brand-new blue 190SL, complete with optional hard-top. They toured Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy, then took the ferry from Brindisi to Patras (Greece) and traveled north to my grandparents home town in the “old country” of Macedonia (northern Greece). When finished they had the car shipped to the US and drove it back to the Midwest from NY-effin’-C.
A beautiful car, but the arrival of their fourth child (my little sister) pretty much put an end to it. They sold it off and replaced it with (IIRC) a Ford Falcon, which in turn was replaced by a Galaxie 500, an enormous boat of a car.
I think my wife’s ’97 Miata is about as close in spirit to that car as you could get with a modern (also underpowered) engine and reliable electrical system. It’s pretty, too, but nowhere near the beauty of the lines of the 190SL.