Mercedes 600 - FOR "BIG" PEOPLE
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Summary
Daimler-Benz has always had a vehicle in its sales program that was intended for emperors and kings, industrialists and film stars. The last such car before the war was the "Grosser Mercedes", which was built for German party leaders until 1943. After the war, the Mercedes-Benz 600 followed this tradition and was indeed a "Grand Mercedes". Several thousand units were built over a long period of time, providing heads of state, politicians and the rich and beautiful of the world with a vehicle to drive. Production was only discontinued in 1981.
This article contains the following chapters
- Full of refinements
- All prestige, no business
- 3 tons are hard to brake
- A car full of technology
Estimated reading time: 6min
Preview (beginning of the article)
The "Big Mercedes", which came onto the market in 1938, had an 8-cylinder in-line engine with a displacement of 7655 cm3, a switchable supercharger increased the power to 230 hp at 3200 rpm, enough to take the 3-ton vehicle to a top speed of 170 km/h. The last models were armored and weighed almost 5 tons. The last models were armored and weighed almost 5 tons. However, these vehicles could not be driven faster than 80 km/h, as the bulletproof tires could not withstand any greater load. At the IAA in Frankfurt in 1951, the Mercedes 300 was presented as the showpiece, at the same time as the new BMW 501 and the new Opel Kapitän. But these two were no rivals, because soon everyone who was anyone was driving the Mercedes 300. Federal President Heuss owned one, as did Federal Chancellor Adenauer. He was seen so often in his car that people still talk about the "Adenauer type" today. At the Paris Motor Show, which took place six months later, a coupé and a convertible version were shown. The famous 300 SL, with gullwing doors or as a roadster, was also a direct descendant. When the 300 series came to an end in 1963, a total of 15,448 of the various model variants had been delivered.
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