Mercedes 1.2 Prototype 1948

Mercedes 1.2 Prototype 1948 by Autocult

Familiar but strange at the same time!  

As early as the years 1947 and 1948 Mercedes-Benz contemplated the realization of a car body design, which became later known as the ponton respectively pontoon-styled car body in the 1950s. Mercedes-Benz planned to enter the market of lower-priced and small automobiles with the car and developed therefore a four-cylinder engine with 1.2 liter displacement.   Josef Müller, who already made significant contributions to the development of the rear-driven type 170H (W28) and made his mark internal with the realization of the racecar W25, was the responsible engineer of the small Mercedes. In 1935 he already held the opinion that the car body will cover the wheels in future. This most prospective but at that time not by every expert shared opinion also applied to the construction of his Baby-Benz. He did not only remain true to this aspect but also followed other aerodynamic aspects such as into the fenders integrated headlamps. But the actually outstanding feature of the car from a later perspective was its pontoon-styled car body that already unmistakably showed visual features of the Mercedes-Benz W120-model range, which was produced in series from 1953. The upright, slightly V-shaped radiator grill with a seamless transition into the hood already indicated the later contours. Also the roundish design of the doors, the elegant, in a wide arc towards the bumper running rear end and of course the semicircular shaped roof with a wide B-pillar undoubtedly showed the lines of the later production models with pontoon-styled bodywork.   According to Josef Müller’s blueprints of the year 1948, the car had a total length of only 3.7 meters.