Lot details
Registration No: Un-Reg
Chassis No: 1860145500489
Mot Expiry: Exempt

- Reputedly one of seven right-hand drive cars made

- Understood to have first seen service with the German embassy in London and to have been registered as '1 GER'

- Substantially complete and a worthwhile restoration project

Synonymous with (and nicknamed after) Konrad Adenauer - the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany - who ran no less than six, the Mercedes-Benz Type 300 (or W186) was launched at the 1951 Frankfurt Motor Show. Derived from pre-WW2 practice, its cruciform-braced ovoid tubular chassis frame was nonetheless equipped with all-round independent suspension, hydraulic drum brakes, worm and sector steering (later replaced by a recirculating ball set-up) and an innovative rear load-levelling control. All new, the model's 2996cc SOHC straight-six engine was allied to four-speed all-synchromesh manual transmission. Able to accommodate up to six people, the Type 300 was available in saloon or cabriolet guises. Elegant, powerful, exclusive and expensive, the big Mercedes-Benz was targeted at plutocrats and politicians (though, more than a few found favour in Hollywood too). The vast majority of the 642 Type 300 Cabriolets made were to left-hand drive specification.

Reputedly one of just seven right-hand drive examples made, chassis 1860145500489 was supplied new to Mercedes-Benz Brentford on 26th May 1955. Finished in special order 'Teil Dunken Blau', the 300b Cabriolet D is further believed to have first seen service as a German embassy car in London and to have worn the number plate '1 GER' (Germany had not long been allowed to appoint a UK ambassador following WW2). Sold to a private individual in Liverpool during the mid-1960s (presumably after its diplomatic duties had finished), the four-seater was acquired by its last owner in 1972. A German businessman visiting the UK who not only recognised the Mercedes-Benz's rarity and historical significance but could also see beyond its forlorn condition, he left the 300b Cabriolet D in England until transporting it to Bremen, Northern Germany during 1978. Mothballed for the past forty years awaiting the restoration it so richly deserves, the four-seater was most recently UK road registered as 'OSF 475' which it is hoped the DVLA will reissue to a successful purchaser.