Mecedes-Benz R230 in Context

When I was young, I was seriously interested in sports cars.  I subscribed to Road&Track, bought Motor Trend and similar car buff magazines monthly, in part to keep up with the latest foreign and domestic sports car offerings.

Of course, I couldn't afford a new sports car of any kind, being a high school student, next a university student, and after that an Army enlistee and graduate student.  Finally, age 31, I bought my first and only sports car, a Porsche 914.  That was in the early 1970s, entering a time when small coupes and some sedans were approaching and even matching sports car performance.

So affordable sports cars began falling by the wayside.  Most two-passenger sports cars were expensive.  Think Porsche 911s, Ferraris, some Mercedes and such.  I gradually reduced paying attention to such vehicles.  Which is why I seldom write about post-1975 sports car styling.

I need to correct that.  As it happened, a few days before I drafted this post (late May 2026), I spotted a black Mercedes sports car in the artsy-poo town I live near.  It looked really nice.  Did some research, finding the car might have been 20 years old!

It was a Mercedes-Benz R230 SL500.  The general Wikipedia entry for SL-Class Mercedes covering the various models over time is here (scroll down for links to more detailed information on specific models).  For instance, the link to R230 cars is here.

The title of this post mentions Context.  Which means that a R230 SL500 is compared to previous (R129) and subsequent (R231) examples.  All three sports cars are attractive, but I find the R230 marginally better, a pure judgment call.

Gallery

1990 Mercedes-Benz R129 500SL - BaT Auctions photos
Mercedes sports cars in those days tended to follow detail cues from the firm's upscale sedans.

2006 Mercedes-Benz W211 E-Class - factory photo
Compare front end styling to the that of the car in the following image.

2005 Mercedes-Benz R230 SL500 - BaT Auctions photos
Simple frontal design with details such as the grille shape and oval headlight assemblies adapted from the contemporary (2002-vintage, each) W211 design shown above.

2012 Mercedes-Benz R231 SL500 - BaT Auctions photos
The next generation design.  Headlight assembly shaping is more complicated.  Grille bar is larger, something like early 1950s American heavy-chrome grille bars.  The chin air intake is more angular, departing from the rounded theme on the R230.

All three designs follow a "wedge" profile theme.

Although there are similarities, the R230 body is not the same as the R129's.

However, the R231 looks suspiciously like a facelift of the R230 design.  Wikipedia's detailed R231 link from the general SL entry cited above suggests that the design was a new one.

Rear quarter view.

The above design is sensible, but I find the R230's aft end more interesting.

I dunno. It does seem like a facelift.

Below are more images of a R230 Mercedes.  It's black, similar to the one I saw that inspired this post.

2003 Mercedes-Benz R230 SL500 - BaT Auctions photos
Like the car I saw, the retractible hard top is raised.

Rear quarter view.

I find the frontal styling more appealing than fronts of the R129 and R231.

That said, I wonder if the ovals would look better separated, somewhat like the headlights on the W211 sedan pictured above.

Nevertheless, the subtly rounded frontal design, with only the grille bars as contrast, works very well for the overall styling.

Some Mercedes "Autobahnkurier" Examples

Streamlining - both aerodynamic and sylistic - was The Next Big Thing in automobile body design around the mid-1930s.  Mostly, cars were given a marginally aerodynamic treatment in the form of rounded rear ends, while front ends retained the usual pre-streamlining features.  In other words, little aerodynamic efficiency was gained.

This was happening in Germany as well as the other main car-producing countries in those days - USA, England, France and Italy.  The German firm Adler even made some cars that were aerodynamically more efficient, as did Hanomag and Horch.  Mercedes-Benz also made at least one aerodynamic passenger car, but mostly opted for the rounded rear option on a few cars called Autobahnkurier.

The term Autobahnkurier was applied to some Mercedes W29 Typ 500K and 540K coupés (the W denotes Werknummer - "Works Number" - a more precise designation than the Typ "Type" number that can and has been applied to more than one Werknummer over the years).  Wikipedia entries for the 500K and 540K are here and here.

Besides those coupés, some Mercedes Stromlinien Limousine - streamlined sedans - have been referred to as Autobahkuriers, though perhaps not by Mercedes.   (My personal library and the Internet are lacking regarding official Mercedes-Benz designations.)  Regardless, today's post presents some examples of both coupés and four-door sedans wuth traditional front ends and rounded rears.

As best I can tell based on Internet searches, some steamlined sedans were W18 Typ 290 based, and others were of W142 Typ 320.

Sources disagree regarding the number of true Autobahnkuriers built, also the number of survivors.  Some say ten were made, others claim 12.  As for survivors, for certain, one 500K exists, as does one 540K.

Autobahnkurier bodies were desined by Friedrich Geiger (1907-1996), who later was in charge of Mercedes styling.

Photo sources for the surviving 540K are extremely varied, and mostly defy citation, as the car has appeared in a number of shows and apparently lacks an official set of images.  Also, given the similarity of the streamlined sedans, the type designations found on the Internet might not be accurate.

Gallery

1934 Mercedes W29 500K Autobahnkurier
One of my sources claims that this was the original Autobahnkurier displayed at the February 1934 Berlin automobile show.  It's a very attractive design in line with the emerging "streamlining" styling details of the day.

Those details include teardrop-profile fenders, smooth downward passenger compartment greenhouse profile, V'd two-piece windshield, and the boat-tail aft planview of the greenhouse.  Note the high, tiny, impractical backlight window.  Compare the overall design to the 1933 Cadillac Aero Coupe.

500K Autobahnkurier owned by the Shah of Persia - photo via Wikipedia
This photo was taken at a Teheran car museum.  The hood is shorter than seen in other coupé photos.  Might the photos above actually be of a 540K?  Or perhaps the car in those photos was given a version of the longer 129.5-inch (3290 mm) wheelbase instead of the 117.3-inch (2980 mm) wheelbase chassis probably used for the car shown here.

540K Autobahnkurier - unknown photo source
From this perspective, the passenger compartment seems quite short, though the car's proportions are similar to the much-admired 500K and 540K roadsters.

1935 Mercedes W18 Typ 290 Stromlinien Limousine - factory images
The design shown here is on a W18 platform according to the Internet photo source, and it looks the same as that shown below as W142s.  Therefore, I cannot guarantee that the Werknummeren jibes with the images.  That said, the streamlining details are not as strong as on the Autobahnkurier design shown above.  For example, two-segment windshield is not as strongly V'd as the coupé's.

The greenhouse profile has a slight ogive curve.  The rear fender is not quite teardrop in profile, though it is spatted, like the coupé's.  Doors are hinged on the B-pillar, but that pillar is thin above the beltline.

The backlight window is two-piece, divided by that central fin or windsplit running down over the spare tire lid.

1938c Mercedes W132 Typ 290 Stromlinien Limousine - unidentified photo sources
As mentioned, the body design is the same as the one just pictured.

This photo might be via Daimler Benz's museum.  Tail lights appear here, but not on the W18 images.

The three-pointed star at the bottom of the fin/windsplit is a cute detail.

Note the contrast between the traditional front and "streamlined" rear.

John Reinhart's Complaint

John M. Reinhart (1916-1986) led Packard styling 1947-51 and later worked at Ford where he is credited with the design of the 1956 Continental Mk. II.  While at Packard he was responsible for its redesigned 1951 line.

Regarding that design, he has been quoted in the Packard Cormorant (No. 129, Winter 2007, page 30) and elsewhere as stating that the car looked "...bottom heavy.  I wasn't particularly happy with it, but then I hated every design I ever made anyway.  You never get what you really want because you have to compromise; the thing could have been a lot better looking had we the option of altering the glass along with the sheet metal."  It seems he would have liked to lower the main body to provide another 1 1/2 inches (35 mm) of glass, but Packard engineers supposedly wanted to limit the amount of glass for price reasons.

The situation might have been more complex than that.  Packard built luxury cars (along with lower-priced models using the same basic body).  If I had been in charge of Packard marketing or product planning an important consideration would have been the design's "image" as a luxury car.  To a degree, that would trump the aesthetic considerations Reinhart favored.

Therefore, let's examine luxury car design circa-1950 to see where the 1951 Packard fits.

Unless noted, images below are of car listed for sale.  All are of four-door sedans for comparative purposes.

Gallery

1951 Packard Patrician 400 - Bonhams auction photo
Patricians were the top of Packard's line.  Side window height is less than one-half the height of the lower body.

1951 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn
Silver Dawns had factory bodies and were meant to be owner-driven.  English luxury cars tended to have large-appearing side windows, though these are proportionally only marginally taller than Packard's.

1950 Daimler DE36 Touring Limousine by Freestone & Webb - auction photo
The same can be said for Rolls' rival.

Jaguar Mark VII
This Jaguar, a semi-luxury car, has windows about half the distance from rocker panel to beltline.

1951 Mercedes-Benz 300 W186
Yet again, similar.

1952 Lincoln
The redesigned '52 Lincoln has windows about the same proportion as Packard..

1950 Cadillac Sixty Special
The redesigned for 1950 Caddy's windows are noticeably narrower than Packard's.

1951 Packard 300
Long-wheelbase '51 Packards such as this 300 had three-piece wraparound backlight windows.  These give the car an airy feeling that complements the solid-looking lower body.

1951 Packard 200
But entry-level 1951 Packards had smaller backlights.  As seen here, Reinhart's complaint has some validity.

1951 Kaiser Golden Dragon - RM Sotheby's auction photo
Kaiser's attractive 1951 design has tall side windows, perhaps a bit more height than Reinhart mentioned.  Their ratio to lower body height was about 58 percent as opposed to Packard's 42 and Cadillac's 35.  But Kaiser was not a luxury brand.  In the early 1950s a Packard with Kaiser proportions would not have seemed big, solid, important.  Perhaps not worth spending luxury car dollars for.

Mercedes 300 SL -- from W194 to W198

Daimer-Benz has built many outstanding cars over the years.  One of the most famous in the post- World War 2 era was the W198 300 SL Coupé.  It was a follow-on of the successful W194 racing car.  Its most distinctive feature was its "gull-wing" doors.

Details of the evolution front W194 to W198 are in the image captions below.  Unless noted, images originated at Daimler-Benz.

Gallery

Spaceframe chassis
I don't know if the item pictured here is for a W194 or W198, though it's possible that those for late-W194s were the same as for W198 coupés.  These frames were extremely light-weight, helping to reduce the weight of W194 rennwagen (race cars).

Early W194 road-tested
Interestingly, the front license plate frame sports the name "300 SL" ( SL =  super leicht, super-light) so Mercedes was thinking of that moniker early in the game.

Front quarter view of early W194
Another view of apparently the same car.  At least 11 W194s were made, and this is an early one because it lacks the famous 300 SL gull-wing doors.  Entry here required stepping over the fender while having  a gull-wing partial door raised.

Side view of early W194
The basic body shape was carried over to production 300 SLs, though the fenders were narrowed and otherwise reshaped slightly.

Rear quarter view of early W194
This shows the initial puffed-out fenders.  The next evolutionary step was provision of a gull-wing door on the driver's side only.

W194 with doors raised
This later W194 features a full set of gull-wing doors.  The plaid cloth seat trim was replaced by leather on 300 SLs.

1953 W194 chassis #11, front quarter view
This was probably the ultimate W194, perhaps serving as a kind of prototype of the 300 SL.  The air vent on the front fender was carried over into production in modified form, but not the front styling or the rear fender vent.

1953 W194 chassis #11, rear quarter view

Rear view of 1953 W194 chassis #11
Note the large gasoline tank filler cap in the rear window.  This is a racing car feature.  The trunk lid sports the legend "300 SL."  That and the Mercedes star imply a production car.  The large letter D probably stands for Deutschland.

1954 300 SL (W198) with doors raised
The "eyebrow" over the front wheel opening was to reduce window splash while driving in rain at high speed, according to Mercedes.  The other one is decoration.

Front quarter view of 1955 300 SL, Mecum auction photo
My web search of auction sites indicates that an excellent-condition 300 SL coupé can be had for more than one million dollars.

Front quarter view of 1955 300 SL with doors raised, Mecum photo
Gull-wing doors became something of a fad, as I mentioned here.  That said, they aren't very practical, though the spaceframe chassis required something like it.

Rear quarter view of 1955 300 SL, Mecum photo
The passenger compartment greenhouse is almost the same as that of W194 chassis #11.  Missing is the racing fuel cap on the backlight window,

1958 300 SL Roadster
Model year 1957 saw Coupés being phased out and Roadsters phased in.  Note the conventional door.  This change required reworking the spaceframe.  I wonder if that affected body flexing for the worse.