1962 Mercedes Benz SL 190 Project

Vehicle very complete with almost everything on it for a person willing to do a nice and very profitable project.

TheMercedes-Benz 190 SL(W121) is a two-door luxuryroadsterproduced byMercedes-Benzbetween May 1955 and February 1963. Internally referred to asW121(BII or B2), t was first shown in prototype at the 1954 New York Auto Show, nd was available with an optional removable hardtop.

The 190 SL presented an attractive, ore affordable alternative to the exclusiveMercedes-Benz 300 SL, haring its basic styling, ngineering, etailing, nd fully independent suspension. While both cars haddouble wishbonesin front andswing axlesat the rear, he 190 SL did not use the 300 SL's purpose-built W198 tubular spaceframe. Instead, t was built on a shortenedmonocoqueR121platform modified from theW121small saloon.

The 190 SL was powered by a new, lightly oversquare 105PS (77kW; 104hp) Type M121 BII 1.9L straight-fourSOHCengine. Based on the 300 SL's straight six,it had an unchanged 85mm bore and 4.3mm reduced 83.6mm stroke, as fitted with twin-choke dual Solex carburetors, nd produced 120 gross hp.In detuned form, t was later used in theW120180 and W121 190 models.

The car was available either as a soft-top convertible (initially priced at DM 16,500/US$ 3,998) or with removable hardtop (DM 17,650/$ 4,295). A small a third-passenger transverse seat was optional. During its first years the 190 SL was available as a sports-racing model with small perspex windscreen and spartan one-piece leather covered bucket seats and aluminum doors. In 1959, he hardtop's rear window was enlarged.

Both the 190 SL and the 300 SL were replaced by theMercedes-Benz 230SLin 1963.

Mercedes-Benz scored a hit with the 190 SL in a couple of different ways. It was comparatively attainable, 5,032 in 1962 versus $10,950 for a 300 SL. It was commercially successful, ith 25,881 produced through 1963. The corresponding 300 SL roadster number (it also lasted through 1963) was only 1,858. Those facts probably explain why the 190 SL is something of a blueprint for the Mercedes-Benz SL-class roadsters that followed, eginning with the "pagoda," as it's called, 30 SL of 1964. They were comfortable, ncredibly well built with top-quality materials, legant, ompetent, ust not blazing fast. For real German speed, ou went to Porsche. That's a fact. It wasn't that far removed from Le Mans in 1955. Rocket-velocity Benzes wouldn't return for many years.