Daimler-Benz AG emerged from the smoking rubble of World War II in somewhat precarious health, with production plants that had been pretty comprehensively levelled by Allied bombing.

Far from being a broken nation, the resilience of the workforce was remarkable, and Mercedes-Benz resumed car production in 1946, albeit with the pre-war 170V, a modest middle-class car that had been their best-seller in the 1930s.

However, in less than six years, the company was sufficiently confident to return to the luxury market when the Mercedes 300 was introduced at the 1951 Frankfurt Motor Show, and for the duration of the 1950s, Mercedes-Benz prestige line-up was based on the 300 range, at the heart of which was essentially the same superb 2,996cc overhead-camshaft six-cylinder engine found in the legendary 300SL 'Gullwing'.

The 300 Saloon was aimed squarely at Captains of Industry and Heads of State - indeed, the model was nicknamed 'Adenauer' after Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the...