By the summer of 1945, the ravages of WWII had reduced the factories of Daimler-Benz to almost nothing.

As Allied-occupied Germany began to recover, limited, supervised production began with the humble 170V sedan, and with it, the heartbeat of Mercedes-Benz rose from the ashes.

Soon thereafter, with Mercedes-Benz’s top brass wishing to reestablish the company’s prewar dominance, designers and engineers received clearance to develop what would become the luxurious 300 series – utilizing a new three-liter six-cylinder engine that would soon play a pivotal role.

A swift return to racing was seen as another key to the company’s recovery, and Mercedes-Benz was soon making strides toward that end.
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Following the debut of the 300 in April 1951, engineer and head of Mercedes-Benz passenger car design Rudolf Uhlenhaut, together with a delegation from the company’s racing department, weighed all of the options available to economically develop a new sports car that utilized components from c...