Mercedes-Benz Ponton Classic Cars for Sale

The Mercedes-Benz Ponton was car manufacturer Daimler-Benz's first entirely new model in the post World War 2 period. The Mercedes-Benz Ponton was launched in July 1953 and in the subsequent 9 years Daimler-Benz would go on to produce over half a million Mercedes-Benz Ponton cars until production ceased at the end of 1962.

Daimler-Benz in the immediate post World War 2 period

As one of Germany's major industrial complexes Daimler-Benz was the focus of intensive allied bombing which which left 60 years of Daimler-Benz industry in ruins and resulted in the Daimler-Benz board issuing a statement saying that the company ceased to exist in 1945. Despite this the company had by 1946 managed to start producing small pre-war designed low-powered vehicles that found a market in the post war austerity period. These early steps at rebuilding the Daimler-Benz company laid the foundation for a newly designed car to be introduced:the Mercedes-Benz Ponton.

The Mercedes-Benz Ponton era

Autumn 1953 arrived and the public could get their first view of the Mercedes-Benz Ponton W120 a four cylinder sedan, built with comfort and safety in mind. Over the next 3 years development continued as 3 different body styles, a sedan, a roadster and a cabriolet were released. These Mercedes-Benz Ponton models came with different engines including the 4 or 6 cylinder sedan, the 4 cylinder roadster and the 6 cylinder cabriolet

Design Innovation

In safety terms the Mercedes-Benz Ponton design team challenged the prevailing thinking at the time that safe cars had to be rigid bodied. The company wanted a unitary car body and the design team produced what became known as the three box design: a rigid passenger compartment with crumble zones to the front and rear. The crumple zone design was patented by Daimler-Benz, and proved to be a milestone in car design.

Origin of the name 'Ponton'

Mercedes-Benz Ponton: 'Ponton' is the German word for pontoon, and the cars name refers to the post war styling trend of 'pontoon fenders', which subsequently became known as 'Ponton styling'