Mercedes-Benz W112

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See Mercedes-Benz S-Class for a complete overview of all S-Class models.

The Mercedes-Benz W112 is a luxury automobile produced by

The sedan was based on the Mercedes-Benz W111 Fintail sedan chassis and coachwork. The 300SE coupe/convertible was introduced in February 1962, and - somewhat confusingly - shared its more restrained and elegant Paul Bracq designed bodywork with the Mercedes-Benz W111 220SE coupe/convertible.^[3] The sedan-based stretched wheelbase 300SE "Lang" appeared in March 1963, redesignated the 300SEL in 1964.

Background

After nearly a decade of great success throughout the 1950s, the aging Mercedes-Benz W189 flagship, the 300d Adenauer limousine, needed a replacement. Until the Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser could be developed a stopgap would have to do. The W112 300SE was the result.

The previous generation of Mercedes models had featured three types of chassis: those mass-produced on a

In the late 1950s,

With the debut of the clean sheet, top-of-the-range W100 600 still several years off, Mercedes turned to its largest platform, the W111, added the fuel-injected 3-litre six-cylinder M189 engine from the 300d, and supplemented it with luxury features and detailing, to create the W112.

Features

Externally the W112 displayed substantially more chrome, and luxury features such as power steering, air suspension, and automatic transmission were standard (though a manual transmission would return as an option). The car cost almost twice the price of the top W111 model, the 220SE.

Performance

The 300SE's performance was the top of the Mercedes sedan line, with the M189 six-cylinder engine producing 160 hp (170 after 1964) and giving a top speed of 180 km/h (190 after 1964, both figures 175 and 185 for automatic transmission respectively).

Position in model range

Sedan

The W112 was much smaller than either the grand 300 "Adenauer" (W189) that preceded it, or the imposing Mercedes-Benz 600 Grosser Mercedes (W100) that first appeared in late 1963.

To help fill this gap, a long-wheelbase 300SE sedan made its debut in March 1963 - which, however, arrived without an L added for "Lang" ("long" in German), a designation which did not appear in model name or trunk emblem until the subsequent W108 and W109 models.^[1]

While the W112 was always a very exclusive automobile, its low production numbers reflect a combination of a very high price and limited demand, as it lacked both the size and overwhelming luxury and cachet of the top of the range 300d and 600 limousines which bracketed it. In 1962, for every W112 sedan 24 W111s rolled off the production line, while by 1964, this ratio was almost 1:40. In the end, the W112 sedan turned out to be very short-lived. With the company's top niche filled by the 600, demand for the W112 plummeted. In 1962 a total of 2,769 were built, which fell to 1,382 in 1963. With the coming of the

Coupe and Cabriolet

In addition to the 300SE sedan, the early 1960s top-of-the-range Mercedes-Benz W112 line was expanded in 1962 with an even more exclusive cabriolet and coupe. With no equal or superior of their type made by the company, the pair of 2-doors enjoyed a somewhat elevated status through their model runs.

Upscale versions of the W111 220SE coupe and convertible that had debuted in 1961, their more modern and elegant Paul Bracq designed bodywork lacked the badly dating upwardly-raked and pointed fintails of the sedan, and aged better.^[4]

Sales disparity between the W111 and W112 specialty models was substantial. For example, five 220SE cabriolets sold to every equivalent 300SE. Two-door W111/W112 production continued after 1965 with the coming of the new generation

However, in November 1967, the aging M186-based M189 engine was replaced by a new 2.8 litre straight-6 used in the W111 280SE. At least one 300SE Convertible, with M189 engine, was produced for the

• 1961–1965 300 SE Sedan (5,202 built)[6]
• 1962–1967 300 SE Coupé (2,419 built)
• 1962–1967 300 SE Cabriolet (708 built)
• 1963–1965 300 SE long long-wheelbase Sedan (1,546 built, often wrongly referred to as the 300 SEL, a designation not used until 1966)

• 
  Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Sedan (W112)
• 
  Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Coupe (W112)
• 
  Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Cabriolet (W112)

Model timeline

References

Notes

Bibliography

General

Workshop manuals

• http://www.heckflosse.nl/

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