Mercedes-Benz W112

Mercedes-Benz W112
Mercedes-Benz 300 SE long Sedan (W112)
Overview
Manufacturer	Mercedes-Benz
Also called	300SE / 300SE long
Production	1961–1965 (4-door) 1962–1967 (2-door)
Assembly	Stuttgart Untertürkheim, Germany
Designer	Friedrich Geiger
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size luxury car
Body style	4-door sedan 2-door coupe 2-door convertible
Layout	FR layout
Related	Mercedes-Benz W111 Mercedes-Benz W113
Powertrain
Engine	3000 cc M189 I6
Chronology
Predecessor	Mercedes-Benz W189 (4-door) Mercedes-Benz W188 (2-door)
Successor	Mercedes-Benz W109 (4-door) Mercedes-Benz W111 (280SE 3.5, 2-door)

The Mercedes-Benz W112, marketed as the Mercedes-Benz 300SE, is an automobile produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1962 to 1967. It was available as a coupé, convertible and sedan. The cars were based on the Mercedes-Benz W111 Fintail chassis and coachwork, but fitted with the 3.0 litre fuel-injected M189 big-block six-cylinder engine, standard luxury features such as air suspension, power steering, and automatic transmission, and a higher level of wood and leather trim. The stretched wheelbase 300SEL appeared in 1963.

The previous generation of Mercedes models featured three types of chassis: those mass produced on a unibody Ponton chassis, which included the entry-level 4-cylinder 180/190 series, mid-range 220 series of sedan, coupe, and convertible, and 190SL sports coupe and roadster; a luxury range of coachwork-built 300 series sedan, coupe, convertible, and roadster, hand-crafted on a pre-war X-frame chassis; and the exotic 300SL coupe/roadster, built on a unique tubular chassis.

In the late 1950s, Daimler-Benz AG began plans to unify its entire model range on one platform in order to take advantage of economies of scale. Assembly of all 2-door 300S W187s ended in 1955, and in 1958, the fuel-injected W128 220SE "Ponton" was introduced. The new generation of 220/220S/200SE W111 "Fintail" sedans was introduced in 1959. These were joined in 1961 by the 220SE W111 coupe and convertible, as well as the four-cylinder W110 190 and 190D. Since a replacement for the big 300d Adenauer limousine was still being developed, its fuel-injected 3-litre six-cylinder engine was installed in the W111 and supplemented with luxury features and detailing to create the W112.