The beauty of car spotting is that nice cars can be literally anywhere, and it was one of the days where I came across this 1952 Mercedes W136 170 V by pure chance!
The Mercedes Type 170 V was developed back in 1931, and made its debut at the International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition in 1936 at Berlin. It replaced the Type 170 (designation W15) and the V designation indicated the engine was in front, compared to the rear-engined 170 H (W28). Customers could choose from several body variants: 2 and 4-door sedans, a 4-door convertible sedan and a cabriolet. There was also delivery van and ambulance variants on top of that as well. Mercedes also explored a Kubelwagen/off-road military vehicle version which saw increased usage during the war.
Post-war production restarted in May 1946, where initially the panel vans and small flatbed trucks were built again. The civilian convertible versions were no longer available; sedans were made starting from 1947. In May 1950, the 170 V (petrol) and 170 D (diesel) received a power upgrade with a larger 1.8 litre engine, and safety was improved with the introduction of telescopic shock absorbers, a wider rear track and stronger brakes. The luggage compartment was finally accessible from outside and the passenger cabin was given wider seats. The naming convention was also changed to 170 Va and 170 Da.
A further upgrade happened in May 1952, accompanied by new suffixes for the name. The Mercedes-Benz 170 Vb and Mercedes-Benz 170 Db now featured new single piece bumpers. The two rows of vertical ventilation slats that were on the sides of the bonnet/hood were replaced by a pair of horizontal slats on each side, and the windscreen wipers which had hitherto been attached at the top of the windscreen frame were now attached at the bottom. In 1953, the Type 170 became quite outdated and sales started to decline, along with another rebranding to 170 S-V and 170 S-D.
The 170 Vb was powered by a 1767 cc M136 i4 engine, allowing it to reach a top speed of 116 km/h with an acceleration of 40.1 seconds [0-100 km/h]. It had dimensions of 4285 x 1630 x 1610 mm, with a weight of 1120 kg and a fuel consumption of 9.7 litres / 100 km.
Production of the W136 ended in 1955 where it was replaced by the Ponton-bodied Mercedes 180. About 200,000 were made, of which ~140,00 were the 170 V models produced after the war; this made the W136 the best-selling Mercedes model of its era. W136s were also sold in Singapore in 1951, where a newspaper article stated that a batch of six 170Ds were imported by Cycle & Carriage Co (which is still the Mercedes dealer today). 170 Vs retailed at $8,100, with the 170 D at $8,550 and 170 S at $9,875.
This unit was imported and registered in 2018, but I had not seen it until it randomly appeared in my school one day! I was rushing for class but was able to squeeze out a few minutes to hang around this relic, and managed to express my admiration to the owner who had just returned. While I have not seen it again, I believe it is still around even though the number plate is no longer registered. To the best of my knowledge, there are at least 3 units of the 170 here and hopefully, you'll get to catch a sight of them soon!
