Is the Grosser the “Most Mercedes” Mercedes? (Page 2)

By Omar Abou-Zied - May 29, 2014

Queen Elizabeth II on her 1965 German State Visit

The three-ton 600 then proceeded to bend the laws of physics with relatively sports-car-like handling, a higher top speed than the 230SL sports car (which also debuted in 1963), and crumple-zone safety technology in an advanced monocoque chassis.

To an engineering company like Daimler-Benz AG, the directive to produce the best car in the world connoted ideas unlike what the competition had ever considered. At the time, Rolls-Royce and Cadillac were at the height of their game, but their game was stale because the era of the coachbuilt car was ending, and yet they still equated quality with traditional building methods, creature comforts, and, above all, a ride that emphasized isolation over communication.

With ambitious engineers like Uhlenhaut and Wilfert leading the way, it’s no wonder the game completely changed when the 600 entered production and many of its advanced ideas spread to other cars in the Mercedes-Benz range. One example: the body penned by Paul Bracq, signaled the design direction subsequent Mercedes-Benz sedans would take for over a decade, and it was often emulated by other carmakers. Most tellingly, when Rolls-Royce introduced a boxy, slab-sided, and, to purists’ eyes, utterly avant-garde Silver Shadow in 1965, the British marque’s old game was over.

Hindsight’s clarity now reveals that the world entered “the Mercedes-Benz era” with the debut of the brilliant and over-achieving Grosser 600 limousine.

While only “extra-terrestrials” purchased the 600, over time it became clearer to more and more Mercedes-Benz buyers around the globe just how to define the best car in the world. That definition was one that adhered to the philosophy of a company led by engineers, and which produced cars that emphasized safety, ergonomic science, long-term reliability, and design over mere styling.

Much has been written about the first “Mercedes” of 1901 whose combination of firsts such as a relatively lower center of gravity, sloped steering column, gate-patterned gearchange, and honeycomb radiator famously allowed the world to enter “the Mercedes era.” Hindsight’s clarity now reveals that the world entered “the Mercedes-Benz era” with the debut of the brilliant and over-achieving Grosser 600 limousine — a most genuine Mercedes-Benz because it was truly “engineered like no other car in the world.”

So is the Grosser the most Mercedes-Benz of all Mercedes-Benz-branded cars? We think the answer is yes, and we’ve got the 861 words above and in the previous page to back up our ironclad position.