Mid-Market Masterpiece

The 1936 290 Cabriolet A offered Mercedes-Benz quality, luxury and style to the middle-class buyer

Article Aaron Weiss

images David Gooley, Daimler Archives

Two years ago, an understated but lovely two-seat cabriolet – in stunning two-tone green paint, with the darker green hue forming deep reflective pools on the surface of the front fenders – was on display at the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge at Pebble Beach. Based on a 1933 design and built in 1936, this car was a deliberate effort to avoid drawing the kind of attention to itself that the awesome 540Ks would tend to do.

Opulence was unfashionable

Automobiles are not designed in a vacuum, but rather must respond to and reflect the  dominant social and economic conditions of their periods. This Mercedes-Benz 290 Cabriolet A is no exception. The world was rapidly changing in the mid-1930s. The economic environment in Germany was in a state of chaos and the political world was equally tumultuous.

It was under these circumstances that, in 1933, Mercedes-Benz introduced the Type 290 models, built on the new W18 chassis that replaced the larger Type 350/370 models built at the old Benz plant in Mannheim. The 290 models all had the same 2.9-liter 6-cylinder engines with 3-speed manual transmissions (4-speed after 1937) with high-speed overdrive. They offered Mercedes-Benz reliability, luxury and status at a mid-price point, not as flamboyant or expensive as the later 540Ks, but rather radiating an understated sensibility.

In addition to the four-door sedan and touring models produced at Mannheim, the 290 was available initially in three convertible models, joined later by a fourth, with bodies by Sindelfinger Karosserie, in-house coachbuilders at the Daimler Sindelfingen plant.

The Cabriolet B was a 2+2 model, also known as a Victoria, with a jump seat in the tonneau area that could hold two extra passengers in a pinch. The Cabriolet C and D built on the long-wheelbase W18 chassis were four-door convertibles with adequate space for driver and three or four passengers, with the D offering more luggage space in an external trunk.

The Cabriolet A, introduced in 1936, was a two-seater sports model with a shelf for luggage and drawers for tools in the tonneau area behind the front seats. The Cabrio A and B were both built on the short-wheelbase version of the W18 chassis, but the more sporting Cabrio A was 7.5 inches lower than the other drop tops. The distinctive Cabriolet A has a swooping rear profile with dual spares mounted in a recess in the rear deck.

Finding a rare car

As a collector interested in Mercedes-Benz vehicles produced before WWII, I was intrigued to learn that the Classic Center in Fellbach had located a W18 with a cabriolet body in Walluf, Germany. Even more interesting, the car was that most sporting and rare of the body styles, a 1936 short-wheelbase Cabriolet A, with an optional two-tone paint scheme. However, documenting these features as truly original wasn’t straightforward. Toward the end of the war, the Allies incinerated the Mannheim plant where the chassis had been built, destroying all the factory records – including the build sheets, engineering blueprints and original manufacturing specifications. Authenticating this car’s originality would have to be done using physical inspection or secondary sources.

Validating the two-tone paint was straightforward, as examples with that paint scheme had distinctive fenders, stamped with a reveal line separating the two paint colors, and were produced without signal lights on the fenders: This example had both characteristics.

However, as a spate of 290s presented as Cabriolet As recently have been offered at auction with questionable provenance, more proof would be necessary to prove this example had originally been manufactured as a Cabriolet A.

Fortunately, Mercedes-Benz was able to locate a 1970 service record that recorded the 290 with its VIN as a Cabriolet A. At that time, 290 cabriolets had very little market value, so there would be no reason to endure the cost of rebodying a 290 with a fabricated Cabriolet A body.

To document this information, noted German authority on Mercedes-Benz vehicles and FIVA/HVA-certified appraiser Christian Kramer inspected and evaluated the 290, providing a FIVA Deuvet (German Veteran Car Club of the International Federation of Antique Car Clubs) certificate of authenticity.

Kramer’s research uncovered an interesting history. Although it was produced in 1936, German records indicate that the cabriolet wasn’t sold until 1948, when a German industrialist registered it for the first time. The family retained ownership of the car until 1975 when it was sold to an American enthusiast. The car returned to Germany in 1995 where it remained until I acquired it in November 2015.

In Germany, regardless of a car’s date of manufacture, it must comply with all current laws to be driven on the street. Therefore, when the Cab A came back to Germany in 1995, the owner had removed its trafficators and installed modern turn signals, stop lights, a Bose sound system, and undercoated the vehicle with a paraffin-like material.

A real show girl

Given my desire to show the Cab A, I had the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California, inspect the vehicle once it arrived in Los Angeles. The Classic Center generated a long list of to-do items needed to ready the car for shows. In January 2016, the 290 was accepted to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance; we had only seven months to prepare the car for competition.

The center’s shop foreman, Nate Lander, flew to Essen in Germany to find necessary parts, including trafficators, correct bolts and electrical components. Parts in hand, work began in earnest to remove the paraffin undercoating, detail the engine compartment, repaint the front quarter panels and engine enclosure, and replace the top. All bright work was replated, the sound system removed. Trafficators were installed, and modern signal and stoplights removed and replaced with period-correct original parts. In August 2016, the 290 made the journey to Carmel, California, where it was on display at both the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge and on the 18th fairway for the Pebble Beach concours during Monterey Car Week.

After that debut, I exhibited the car at both the Hillsborough and Palos Verdes concours des elegance and was gratified to be awarded Best in Show at both events. In June 2017, the 290 received 99.5 points at Classic Car Club of America’s San Marino Motor Classic.

I couldn’t be more pleased with this car even if it were one of the spectacular supercharged Mercedes-Benz machines built in the mid-1930s, because so few people have ever seen a 290 Cabriolet A, much less one of this quality.

SPECIFICATIONS

1936 Mercedes-Benz 220 Cabriolet A (W18)

TYPE: Two-door, two-seat short-wheelbase cabriolet;

chassis from Mannheim, body by Sindelfinger Karroserie

ENGINE: M18 2,867cc 6-cylinder side-valve

TRANSMISSION: 3-speed manual with high-speed overdrive

HORSEPOWER: 68 at 3,200 rpm

WHEELBASE: 113 in   LENGTH: 181 in

CAPTIONS

Before Valerie and Aaron Weiss acquired this 1936 290 Cabriolet A, Christian Kramer, noted authority on Mercedes-Benz and a FIVA/HVA certified appraiser inspected and evaluated the car, providing a FIVA Deuvet certificate of authenticity. Beginning in 1935, the short-wheelbase version of the W18 290 became available as an exclusive Cabriolet A.

The understated, yet authoritative and elegant styling of the 290 Cabriolet A body could be further enhanced by the customer selecting optional factory two-tone paint, a choice guided by an embossed reveal stamped into the bodywork.

The Cabriolet A’s 2.9‑liter M18 engine, uprated to 68 horsepower in 1935, offered lively performance for the period.

All is right with the world: The snug and sporty two passenger cockpit, complete with matching green leather seats, ivory instrument dials and built-in oak storage drawers, offers a satisfyingly refined and debonair driving environment.