The Mercedes-Benz Type 300's (chassis codes W186, W188, and W189) were the company's largest and most-prestigious models throughout the 1950's. Analogous to today's S-Class, the Type 300 cars were elegant, powerful, exclusive, and expensive.

The 300 Series of the fifties was the first upper class car from Mercedes-Benz since the end of the war. The 300S could not be - and it was not intended to be - a commercial success, but rather, a label through which Daimler-Benz was presenting its newborn strength.

People looking for a replacement for their 540K after the war would find their search successful at the Automobile Exposition in Frankfurt in 1951 : That's where Mercedes-Benz presented the brand new 300, a definitely noble creation that was worth about $10,100 as a sedan and $11,970 as a four-door convertible 300 Cabriolet D. It was easy to surmise this would not become a bestseller; a house was worth just about the same amount of money, and the average income of a worker that year was $3,100.