The W187 was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in April 1951, alongside the flagship W186 Mercedes-Benz 300 Adenauer. The two models together announced Mercedes-Benz's renewed ambition in the luxury segment after wartime destruction and postwar austerity had constrained the company to smaller, cheaper machinery.
Despite its modern engine, the W187's body was strongly reminiscent of the prewar 1938 Mercedes-Benz W153 and already appeared dated to many observers at its launch. The 1949 Borgward Hansa had signaled that European car design had moved on from 1930s forms, and Mercedes-Benz's own 1953 W120 "Ponton" confirmed the industry-wide shift toward lower, wider bodywork following North American trends. This styling conservatism is widely cited as the explanation for the W187's unusually short production run: slightly over three years for the saloon and less than five years for the longest-lived cabriolet variants.
The 220 saloon closely resembled the contemporary W136 Mercedes-Benz 170S in its proportions, but integrated the 170S's freestanding headlights into the front fenders for a marginally more modern appearance. To handle the increased power in what was, by contemporary standards, a heavy car, the W187 was fitted with duplex drum brakes.
Two two-door cabriolet variants were produced. The Cabriolet A was an opulently styled open roadster evoking the ultra-exclusive W188 300S; the Cabriolet B was a plainer dedicated 2+2 that closely resembled the 220 saloon in its lines. During 1953 the Cabriolet A's flat windscreen was replaced by a slightly curved screen. In December 1953 a Coupé derived from the Cabriolet A was announced for the 1954 model year; fitted with a steel sunroof as standard, it was priced at 22,000 Deutschmarks — nearly twice the cost of the standard saloon.
Between August 1952 and May 1953, 41 specially bodied open touring police versions, designated OTP (Offener Tourenwagen Polizei), were built for the West German police force.
Production totals were modest: 1,278 Cabriolet As, 997 Cabriolet Bs, and just 85 Coupés were sold. The saloon accounted for the majority of W187 output before the body style was retired in 1954.
All W187 models used the newly developed M180 inline six-cylinder engine displacing 2.2 litres (2,195 cc) and producing 79 hp (80 PS; 59 kW). The engine attracted considerable attention in the motoring press as the first new powerplant presented by Mercedes-Benz in more than ten years. It featured valves operated by short rocker arms from an overhead camshaft and was notable in the European market for its oversquare cylinder dimensions — a bore of 80.0 mm against a stroke of only 72.8 mm — which enabled an efficient reverse-flow cylinder head design.
Mercedes-Benz claimed a top speed of 87 mph (140 km/h) for the saloon and 90 mph (140 km/h) for the cabriolet. In April 1954, the Cabriolet A and its Coupé derivative received an uprated version producing 84 hp (85 PS; 63 kW) that had been developed for the forthcoming W180 Ponton.
The M180 engine family proved to be the foundation of a long line of progressively enlarged and refined six-cylinder units powering a wide range of Mercedes-Benz models, including the early W116 S-Class cars of the 1970s.
The saloon was replaced in May 1954 by the W105 219 and W180 220a. The Cabriolet A and Coupé continued in production for a further fifteen months, going out of production in August 1955. When the cabriolet line was withdrawn there was no immediate successor; just over a year later, the all-new Ponton-bodied Mercedes-Benz 220S Cabriolet and Coupé appeared in July and October 1956 respectively, carrying the open-car tradition forward on a more modern platform.
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