Oldtimer Club

Mercedes-Benz 290 – 1937

Owner:

Cășuneanu Costel

Email:
[Trimite email]

Phone:
+40727/227100

Car History:

The 290 Mercedes completed in 1933 the Stuttgart type and Mannheim type 3 of the liter class serial. The conservative Limousine was propelled by the engine from the Daimler Benz 260 model, six cylinders, with an initial power of 60 HP and later on a 68 HP at 2,9 liters.Its branching building and the wheels catching system remembered the smaller model, 200 type. The varied range counts 16 building types: from Roadster to various Cabrio models up to the Pullman Limousine. The 290 missed the temperament. The 68 HP limousine could hardly reach 80 km/h speed in 27 seconds.

Back in 2002, when the Mercedes-Benz 290 limped onto the forecourt at Kienle Automobiltechnik, its glitter was almost gone: while almost complete, it was in a pretty bad state. Almost three years later, the car made its first round – perfectly restored and in at least as good condition as back in the year 1936 when it left the factory.

The Mercedes-Benz 290 connoisseur Klaus Sigloch raises his eye-brows in admiration: “According to official data, only two 290 Roadster models were built in the Mercedes factory. The one restored at Kienle Automobiltechnik has a complete chain of documentation – making it one of the two genuine 290 Roadsters that we know of today that was bodyworked in the factory. In addition to these two, today there are quite a number of coach built Roadsters and also replicas on the basis of the 290”.

Originally silver-grey when it left the factory, the 290 Roadster was painted black and red at Kienle, on the request of its owner, with beige interior appointments. The car is a true rarity in the classic cars scene: there are believed to have been ten times as many Mercedes-Benz 500 K and 540 K special Roadsters and compressor Mercedes converted into special Roadsters as genuine Mercedes-Benz 290 Roadsters. No less that 16 different body models were mentioned in the 1936 sales brochure – at that time, no other Mercedes-Benz was available in so many different models. From 1934, it was available with two different wheelbases: the normal version built from february 1933 has a wheelbase of 2.880 mm and the long version - one of 3.300 mm.

The Kienle 290 Roadster body is supported by the long chassis. This allowed the Daimler-Benz body designers to create an extremely elongated roadster body with an additional hinged bench seat (“dickey seat”) behind the two front seats – in Germany, a so-called “mother-in-law seat”. Anyone who associates the name Roadster with a sport car - like performance, is going to be disappointed, however, with a weight of some 1.800 kg one can hardly expect miracles of the 68 HP engine: a contemporary test report commented that, taking 27 seconds for 0 to 80 km/h, the Mercedes 290’s temperament was at best only.

Engine / Propulsion

Type

6 cylinder (in series)

Engine position / traction

Front/Back

Capacity in cm ³

2847

Power in HP at rpm

60 at 3200

Maximum speed Km/h

105

Body