Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster R121

Description:
This is where it started. With Mercedes and R121. The car which, together with its big brother the 300 SL, is seen by many as the first modern sports car and it is easy to see why. The low, sleek roadster felt like it was 10 years ahead of its time in terms of design when it was launched in the mid-50s and the car would come to have a major impact on the brand in the years to come. Big brother 300 was a car developed for racing and the 190 model shared many and many of the exterior elements but got an engine more adapted for the masses.


This specimen must be held as perhaps one of the best in the world. Newly restored to a condition that is difficult to describe in words but with a sense of detail and originality. It is a special car to have in one's presence. Small and pretty but with wonderful details and an exterior that is clearly shaped with a whole new ethos from Mercedes. The outside offers a metallic grey paint that gets a wonderful contrast in its brown softtop. The eye is constantly drawn to new details, the color-matched 13" rims that are covered in classic rubber with 'whitewall'. The fenders that have been given a seemingly unnecessary small 'eyebrow' above the wheels, a beautiful detail that was actually not unnecessary at all but developed during the racing program when it was noted that this eliminated water and stones flying up from the wheel well. A wonderful detail and perhaps one of the car's perhaps most famous design elements.


It is with respect that you open the car. Chrome door handles, of course, to complement a lot of other chrome in the exterior. Every element of this car feels neat and mechanically beautiful in a way that few cars do today. Once inside the brown interior you are met by simplicity and beauty. The dashboard shares the color of the exterior and is broken up by chrome details. In front of you is an ivory thin steering wheel and behind a instrument cluster where the focus is on the speedometer and tachometer. Everything is perfect here, and it is when you sit here that you perhaps best appreciate the fantastic condition of this specimen. But even if the car is small and pretty, it has more goodies to offer. Open the boot and you are greeted by a model-specific luggage set, of course dressed in the same color palette as the interior. The Mercedes 190 and 300 SL are the beginning of the sports car as we know it today, there is no doubt about that and this example has undergone such a deep restoration that the car gives the impression of a new car. Everything done with a fantastic respect for the car's origins and to the same standard as Mercedes themselves once built the car. Few cars have impressed us like this amazing 190 SL Roadster and we are immensely proud to be part of the car's history.