1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 b 2-Door Sedan

The styling of this 300b Pininfarina Coupe has been interpreted as a blend of several cars of the period, particularly the Bentley Continental, in profile, and the Facel Vega, from the rear. Pinin Farina also bodied a few other 300S models but not as attractively as this one. This 1955 style was adopted as the forerunner of the Mercedes-Benz 220S introduced for 1957. Only three Pininfarina-bodied Mercedes-Benz cars were built in 1955 and 1956, each with a distinctively different body.

The car underwent several exterior changes, mostly additional chrome moulding and a more defined two-tone paint scheme. It did not resurface until mid-1972, when opera singer Roland Dutro in Wiesbaden, Germany, wrote Pininfarina requesting body crests to put on the car following an accident. Two years later, it was sold and found its way to America.

Present owner Fred Kriz, Los Angeles Section, purchased it after it was discovered in the San Joaquin Valley as 'an old clunker.' The car underwent a lengthy restoration in August 1992.