Mercedes-Benz W111

Mercedes-Benz W111 at a glance

A saloon built around the crumple zone

Mercedes launched the W111 in August 1959 with three models, the 220 b, 220 Sb and fuel-injected 220 SEb, which replaced the Ponton 220 S and 220 SE. The tall body with small tail fins gave the car its nickname, but the bigger change was underneath. Béla Barényi's research led to a rigid passenger cell with deformable zones at the front and rear, and Mercedes developed wedge-pin door locks that kept the doors shut in a crash and let them open afterwards.

To prove the concept, Mercedes started systematic crash testing. On 10 September 1959 a pre-series car of the coming W110 family drove head-on into a fixed obstacle, the company's first full-vehicle crash test and a landmark in the history of Mercedes-Benz. Later tests used a rocket sled driven by hot-water steam to accelerate the cars.

Three series on one body: W110, W111 and W112

The Fintail structure carried three model series. The W110 of April 1961 had four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, round headlights and a nose 145 mm shorter; the 190 c and 190 Dc were popular with taxi drivers, and the W110 sold 628,282 cars to 1968. The W111 was the six-cylinder car with upright headlamp units. The W112 300 SE added a 3.0-litre alloy six and air suspension; its output rose from 118 kW (160 PS) to 125 kW (170 PS) in 1964.

Among the W111 saloons, the 220 Sb was the best seller with 161,119 cars, against 69,691 of the 220 b and 66,086 of the 220 SEb. In 1965 the 230 S with the 2.3-litre M 180 replaced them, built to January 1968 alongside the new W108. From 1965 the Belgian importer IMA in Mechelen built a Universal estate, and with W110 versions about 2,754 estates were made in total. Mercedes models that followed are listed in our Mercedes-Benz catalogue.

Rally wins for a family saloon

The Fintail proved itself in long-distance rallies. Walter Schock and Rolf Moll won the 1960 Monte Carlo Rally in a 220 SE, the first German crew to win the event, and the car also scored successes in the Acropolis Rally and the Polish Rally. In Argentina the saloons won the touring car Gran Premio, a road race of more than 4,600 km, in 1961 and 1962. In 1962 the Swedish crew Ewy Rosqvist and Ursula Wirth won it with 4,626 km at an average of about 126.87 km/h.

The coupé and cabriolet: hand-built until 1971

Paul Bracq gave the two-door cars a lower roof, longer flanks and only a hint of the fins, and they shared no sheet metal with the saloon. The coupé appeared in February 1961, the cabriolet in autumn 1961, both on the 220 SEb engine with 88 kW (120 PS). They needed about four times as many hand-made parts as the saloon and cost roughly twice as much. The 220 SEb coupé was the first Mercedes with front disc brakes, a year ahead of the saloon.

The 280 SE 3.5 arrived in August 1969 with the M 116 V8. With a manual gearbox it reached 210 km/h and needed 9.5 seconds to 100 km/h. Six-cylinder production ended in May 1971 and the V8 in July 1971. Mercedes had no direct replacement until the SEC coupé of 1981; the SL family of the same years is covered in our SL-Class history.

Mercedes-Benz W111 today: what to check when buying

On the coupé and cabriolet, the Mercedes-Benz Club of America warns about the lower rear quarter panels behind the wheel arches and the boot floor, and calls structural rust potentially terminal.

Mechanically, the club names the crankshaft of the 2.2-litre M 127 as a weak link, early Dunlop-Girling disc brakes that many owners swap for the ATE system, and the oil-to-water heat exchanger of the 2.5-litre M 129. The W112 air suspension leaks at its seals, and converting it to coil springs lowers the value. Early D-Jetronic injection on the V8 is hard to diagnose, and poor coolant care damages alloy cylinder heads. Chrome, wood trim and hood parts for the two-door cars are expensive. Check the data plates and frame number: a coupé converted into a cabriolet is worth little.

Prices follow the body style. In November 2026 the Classic.com market benchmark stood at about EUR 40,000 (USD 46,535) for a 280 SE coupé, about EUR 113,000 (USD 131,321) for a 280 SE cabriolet and about EUR 277,000 (USD 321,913) for a 280 SE 3.5 cabriolet. Saloons trade well below the two-door cars. Other cars of the decade are gathered in our list of the best classic cars of the 1960s, and earlier and later eras are in the classic cars section.

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