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German Rolls-Royce: 1953 Mercedes 300 Adenauer

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This Mercedes was the flagship model in 1953. It had a long wheelbase and a big inline-six out front making it a proper competitor in the luxury car market. This was basically a German Rolls-Royce and the more you look at it, the more you will like it. Although needing some help, this one appears to be very original too. It’s listed here on eBay with the option to place a bid or buy it now for $44,000.

Inline Six

It may not look  like much, but that six-cylinder engine has an overhead cam and aluminum head. This thing was high-tech for the time! Later cars were even fuel-injected. Carrying on that high-tech theme, the engine is attached to a 4-speed all synchromesh gearbox and all four wheels are independently suspended. Not bad for a fifties car.

300 Interior

The interior may look simple too, but this thing was pretty well outfitted. There were a lot of options you could get too, such as air conditioning and fitted luggage. Just checkout that big tuner for the radio! I mentioned that these came with a 4-speed, but as you can see, the shifter was on the column. It would interesting to see what all this one came with from the factory.

Sliding Roof

The seller mentions that the sliding roof was installed by Mercedes so that is a nice option to have for parade days. I’m not sure if this car has it, but I know that on later cars you could roll down the door windows and remove the rear quarter windows creating a pillarless hardtop look which was great for some seriously luxurious cruising!

Comments

  1. Avatar RayT

    The “pillarless” model came later, in the late 1950s, and had more “formal” squared off styling.

    What a neat find! I’d love to have one of these monsters to go out and play “Hero of the German Economic Miracle” in! Sadly, I’m afraid you’d need the bank account of a big-time industrialist to return it to its shiny glory.

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  2. Avatar onebugatti

    This was one of my first Mercedes car, a 300C, I drove pass an open garage and saw it, in black. I knocked on the door, and an older man let me open the door. I was 18 years old. He said ” Son, you can have it for $25 ”, and I towed it home. That was 1974. I painted it in the driveway , later selling it to put down a deposit on the old guys Gullwing. Kept that one.

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    • Avatar Doug M. (West Coast)

      Oh, PLEEEEEASE post a picture of your Gullwing!!!

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      • Avatar onebugatti

        The Gullwing was raced in the SCCA by Dr. Hancock (1959-1966) a cancer doctor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I had my choice of his 300sl’s that were under his carport, he had 2 of them. One was peacock blue with red leather, and the one I choose had knock of wheels with green plaid ( see photo). I drove it for 20 years, then had it restored. Sold the old black 300c for $2300 after painting it with a brush and wet sanding it down, had to add another $7700 to get the Gullwing from Doc. Bless him. The Gullwing’s name is Bella.

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    • Avatar Ron Bajorek

      incredible

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  3. Avatar Puhnto

    Now there’s a story worth hearing!

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  4. Avatar Madbrit

    Rolls Royce???? Hah!!!!…….. A German taxi more likely……. LOL.

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    • Avatar Dave Wright

      In most circles, these were considered a better car than a comparable Rolls, just not as fancy.

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      • Avatar Trickie Dickie Member

        Dave, you are correct. The engineering on this MBZ, and all others is far superior to Rolls Royce. RR uses fine high quality materials on their cars and are very “fancy”. But British engineering and manufacturing, up until a few years ago left a lot to be desired, even a RR. Now the Germans have stepped in and are making a much better RR, except for the styling, IMHO.

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    • Avatar Horse Radish

      @ MadBrit

      That’s like saying all Jaguar sedans ran as Taxis,
      ……just slightly, ever so slightly ignorant.

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  5. Avatar Paul B

    This was for sale on Craigslist in Portland Maine for ~$23k last summer. It was up for 3 or 4 months.

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    • Avatar Horse Radish

      One just auctioned off on BaT for a legitimate $23k, with decent paint and running and driving.car.
      I think this car is worth less, even with the sunroof.

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      • Avatar StuB.

        I was the seller of the one on BaT, it went for $26,100 and is going to Germany. I will be watching this one…

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  6. Avatar George

    Shifter on the column was standard. Good looking old piece. Too bad it’s so far away.

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  7. Avatar jimbosidecar

    In 1981 I was living and working in Tianjin, China. While I was picked up by government officials every day in an Opel of Australian origins, my competitor was being picked up every day by a 1957 M-B 300. In 1982 my competitor decided to close down their China operations. He really liked the Mercedes and asked if he could buy it before he left China. He was told he could not buy it, but he could trade it for a newer car. So he bought and gave them a new in 1982 Nissan Cedric and they gave him the Mercedes, It was in pristine condition too. When I complained how come my competitor who was deserting China got a Mercedes and I was staying and didn’t they set out looking for one. They came up with several other cars for me to choose from but they never found another Mercedes 300.

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  8. Avatar Van

    Looks neet, if it’s not worth to much.
    How many parts and modern mercedes-benz options can be added without being obvious.
    2012 V8, ABS, Launch control, navigation, 15 speed automatic, etc.

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    • Avatar Horse Radish

      You D O N O T want to add ‘modern’ Mercedes options, it’s all breakable junk.

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  9. Avatar Chuck F 55chevy

    My wife has always loved these since seeing one in Steven King’s Needful Things movie, like many old cars they keep going up in value.

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  10. Avatar Van

    Driving down the autobahn 180 kph cruse control on Wagners ride of the Valkyires blasting out the speakers. “Move over dunkauf”

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    • Avatar Dean

      “dummkopf” not “dunkauf”. Literally “stupid head”, you dummkopf…all in good fun, of course.

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  11. Avatar Mark S

    Sadly I cant afford the parts or the buy in which puts it out of my league, but it would be an awesome car to have and a enjoyable challenge to restore. I wouldn’t even care if I was upside down on the cost. This is far more car than that rust bucket GTO Judge that was posted after this one,IMHO of course. These were the car that would last you your lifetime with basic maintenance and care.

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