280 SE

In the late 1950s, the elegant 300S and 300SC sat at the top of the Mercedes-Benz lineup. But these largely hand-built cars were very expensive to produce, and their body-on-frame construction made them feel a bit old-fashioned on the road. For the turn of the next decade, Mercedes-Benz made an effort to modernize their offerings and reduce production costs. The new W111 range of four-door sedans and two-door coupes were built using unibody construction on a shared common platform. This new car was significantly cheaper to build yet still maintained Mercedes’ famous quality and bank-vault feel on the road.

The first W111 sedans wore styling that was heavily influenced by the American market. The “heckflosse”, or “fintail” had pronounced tail fins and an upright, American sedan appearance. The coupe, however, shared little of the sedan’s styling and was more understatedly elegant with a distinct roofline highlighted by deeply curved rear glass. The coupe was so successful in appearance that it outlived the sedan by several years, eventually lending its styling cues to the Hecklflosse replacement.