1958 Mercedes-Benz 220S

Some of you Mercedes-Benz experts may have taken one glance at the photo above and spluttered "1958? Why, any fool can see that's a 1959!" However, I swear I did my best to figure out the exact model year of this car. With the help of such sites as this one, I believe I've narrowed it down to 1958 or 1959 (the 220S was made from 1956 through 1959, and the bumper-mounted license-plate lights should mean it's from the last two years... unless it's had a junkyard bumper swap, of course). Anyway, regardless of year, this is the car that Mercedes-Benz aficionados consider the very first S-class. That means it's both a cool old 50s daily driver and a significant piece of automotive history, all on one West End Alameda street!

This car lives within a few blocks of the '66 200D. Unlike the '66, however, this Benz gets driven.


Unfortunately, the interior has That Mildewing Car Smell, which is noticeable from several paces away. The weatherstripping has most likely succumbed to the decaying effects of sun and smog, and so the car spends the entire long winter leaking rainwater inside. Fortunately, it rarely rains in Alameda from about April through November, so leaky cars dry out by summertime.


The parking permits are for Tom Hanks' alma mater, Chabot College in Hayward, which means this machine's commute is about 25 miles round-trip. I couldn't get a good view of the odometer, but I'm willing to bet the total mileage on the clock is in the interstellar range.

Late 1950s 220S Down On The Street

Send an email to Murilee Martin, the author of this post, at murilee@jalopnik.com.

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