In the 1950s, Mercedes had two sports cars on offer, which each had a bit of a problem. The 190SL was pretty, but rather slow. The 300SL was fast, but massively expensive. And so Mercedes-Benz Technical Director Prof. Fritz Nallinger and his team started developing the “W127" model to replace both. It was supposed to be a development of the 190SL, but with a 2.2l straight six engine. However, technical difficulties kept postponing the production start of the”220SL”. Nallinger eventually proposed to develop a completely new design, based on the “fintail” W 111 sedan platform with its chassis shortened by 30 cm, and technology from the W 112. This led to the W 113 platform, with an improved fuel-injected 2.3 liter M127 inline-six engine and the distinctive “pagoda” hardtop roof, designated as the 230SL. The lead designers were Paul Bracq and Béla Barényi, who created its distinctive, patented, slightly concave hardtop, which inspired the “Pagoda” nickname.
The 230 SL was offered with a 4-speed manual transmission, or an optional, very responsive fluid coupled (no torque converter) 4-speed automatic transmission, which was popular for US models. From May 1966, the ZF S5-20 5-speed manual transmission was available as an additional option, which was particularly popular in Italy. Of the 19,831 230 SLs produced from 1963 to 1967, less than a quarter were sold in the US.
Mercedes-Benz Chief Engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, who was as competent behind the wheel as any racing driver, demonstrated the capabilities of the 230 SL on the tight three-quarter mile Annemasse Vétraz-Monthoux race track in 1963, where he put up a best lap time of 47.5 seconds vs. 47.3 seconds by Grand Prix driver Mike Parkes on his 3-liter V12 Ferrari 250 GT.
Those familiar with vintage European diecast may think that these two are Tekno models from Denmark. The “top up” / “top down” versions were a feature of Tekno models (they did the same thing with the 300SL and the E-Type Jag as well).
Look, you even get a full-size spare, just like the Tekno casting! But these two were made by Joal in Spain in the 1970s. Joal did what so many others did in the 70s, and shamelessly copied other people’s castings. And got away with it.
There was no real enforcement of copyright across borders, and Spain’s isolationists policies kept any imports out of the country. And while Tekno went belly up and was eventually re-created in the Netherlands, Joal are still making diecast in Spain to this day. But they do their own castings, and of trucks and construction equipment only.
And the Merc evolved through the 250SL into the 280SL and became a legend in its own right.