“Our (230) test car, like all petrol-engined Mercedes models we have tried recently, was fitted with the excellent Daimler-Benz 4-speed automatic transmission, which operates without a torque converter and gives the driver much more opportunity to think for himself than does practically any other system.” Autocar, 11th March 1966.

Successor to the 220, the Mercedes-Benz 230 saloon debuted at the Frankfurt Show in 1965.

The six-cylinder 230 shared its heckflosse (fintail) body style with the four-cylinder 200 range, but its seven-bearing power unit was entirely new and more powerful than the superseded 2.2-litre.

Secondary safety was beginning to be of major concern to the engineers in Stuttgart, and the 230 incorporated a strengthened central passenger cell, increased interior padding and front/rear crumple zones.

This 230 Automatic was sold new to gentleman farmer Captain R J Foljambe and chauffeur driven until 1980 when it was purchased by the current owner.

The latter’s father ...