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Designer · 1907–1996

Friedrich Geiger

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11:53

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL

Friedrich Geiger · 1954

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W198) is a two-seat sports car produced from 1954 to 1957 as a gullwing coupé and from 1957 to 1963 as a roadster. Developed from the 1952 W194 racing car, it introduced mechanical direct gasoline fuel injection to production vehicles, achieved 260 km/h — the highest speed of any production car at the time — and featured groundbreaking gullwing doors and a lightweight tubular-frame construction. Its ‘L’ stands for ‘leicht’, meaning light, reflecting its racing-bred minimalism. Max Hoffman proposed the car to Mercedes-Benz after the 1952 racing successes, and Fritz Konecke approved an order for 1,000 units ahead of its February 1954 debut at the New York Auto Show.

8:41

Mercedes-Benz W116

Friedrich Geiger · 1972

The W116 is the first official S-Class: a flagship luxury sedan built on a larger, separate platform, with independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. Designed by Friedrich Geiger and finalised in December 1969, it launched in 1972 and introduced Mercedes-Benz’s enduring corporate styling theme. It pioneered safety features including crumple zones and optional four-wheel anti-lock brakes. It won European Car of the Year in 1974. It established the S-Class as a benchmark for engineering integrity, not just opulence.