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1949 Mercedes

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SaxMan

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When my father was in the Army, he was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany. He and 3 of his roommates all chipped in $50 to purchase a 1949 Mercedes. My father, in the autobiography he wrote for all of us, identified it as a 190. I don't think that is correct. I think it is a W170. As far as I knew, though, no pictures existed of the car, as I had never seen them. I started going through my father's color slides that he took while in Germany, and lo and behold...there were pics of the car. Any early Mercedes experts out there?

My father standing by the car while on leave:
PICT0008 by David Cohen, on Flickr

Checking the coolant level. IIRC, this is up in the Alps and the car had considerable trouble getting over the mountain:
PICT0016 by David Cohen, on Flickr

At the end of his service, my father gave serious thought to buying out the other three soldiers and shipping the car back to the U.S., but the shipping costs turned out to be prohibitive. So, he sold his share and the car was passed along to the next group of soldiers, and probably the ones after that and after that until the car finally wore out.

One last bonus picture at his base, note the mid-50s VW. Note the "Fire Alarm" in the background
PICT0006 by David Cohen, on Flickr
 
David - any idea what year that first photo was made?

I'm thinking the car is a W136, known as a 170. The 170 referred to approximate displacement; the W number referred to the factory designation for that body. Can't really tell 170V, 170S, etc., but the double strip along the hood sides does look like some model of 170. The engine displacement was *slightly* increased in 1950, but those four cylinders weren't exactly hefty in torque or hp.

Tom M.
 
Wasn't one of the last 170s model number W191?
 
Yep - you're right. The "improved" and slightly larger 170 of 1949 did use the W191 body. Then in 1953 M-B introduced the "ponton" W120 body (the 180 and 190), their first new design since before the War.

TM
 
My father told me that the '49 Mercedes was basically a reissue of the '39 Mercedes, as M-B stashed away all the tooling during the war.
 
Dave - you're right on that background of the 170. Definitely a 1930s model, and the first post-war Mercedes production model.

Here's a bit of history:

https://www.mbzponton.org/valueadded/other/overview.htm#history

Here's a pre-war 170, similar to the 170 in your photo:

57C160618_157_1729_1_c.jpg


A very different pre-war 170 was the 170H (W28), engine in the rear.

MERCEDESBENZTyp170H-W28--2636_1.jpg
 
Friend's mother had one of the first 180's. Solid car with a troublesome radio. She called it the "Funken Telefunken"...
 
It's a bit hard to tell -- but the bottom of the license plate says "U.S. FORCES IN GERMANY". I guess you wouldn't see that today.
 
I'm actually thinking of having replicas of the Mercedes license plates made up and putting them on the Sprite as a tribute to my Dad. So what if the year is off (a 1957 plate on a 1969 car)? I'm sure the plate would be a great conversation starter on top of the Sprite which already starts conversations anytime it is stopped.
 
Have you tried finding period license plates?
 
I was able to locate one of the other, and possibly the last surviving, co-owners of the Mercedes. He was pleasantly surprised to hear from me, but saddened hearing of my father's passing. He had some really nice things to say about my Dad, and related a couple stories that my family never heard before...and my Dad had stories upon stories. We will continue to communicate and swap photos as I have now prompted him to go through his Army photos.
 
Going through another box of slides, I found this picture -- so far, the most complete picture of the '49 Mercedes. Note that it now has the 1958 US Forces in Germany tags.

PICT0682 by David Cohen, on Flickr
 
So, I got the tags. They didn't put the "U.S. Forces in Germany" print on them, or the year. That might actually work to my advantage, as the rules for "Vintage" plates state it has to be the year of manufacture. But, they look really nice on the Sprite.

DSC_0132 by David Cohen, on Flickr

DSC_0129 by David Cohen, on Flickr
 
second picture in particular - from the rear of the car suddenly looks like it is 50 years old also (the picture that is)
 
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