How the Mercedes 170 V helped relaunch the company after 1945

[@christiankastorf4836]

Little wise-crack addition: The diesel version was built for another two years (1953-55) after the petrol 170S made way for the 180 model. The 180D followed in 1955. The 170D and 170DS founded the reputation of MB-diesels as taxis. They were clumsy, deadslow, their engines "hammered" like a tractor, but they seemed to be unbreakable. The same engine was unsed to propel boats, stationary engines like pumps, and were installed in another postwar design that became iconic, the "universal motorized implement", Universal Motorengerät, better known as Unimog.

[@albertm222]

Fitting music! Der Ring des Nibelungen. Great video! Alan, thank you.

[@VanlifewithAlan]

Thanks for listening

[@oguzcav]

Thank you Alan! It is always a great pleasure to learn from you, with your great knowledge base, about the cars and the history.

[@VanlifewithAlan]

Many thanks!

[@michaelschneider-]

+ .. Luv our ‘94 W124 E-Class 320 Coupe, some twenty-six years old. It’s like new!

[@VanlifewithAlan]

Well done Michael for keeping it like that!

[@mortenthenorwegian2875]

Thank you for this history lesson. This was very interesting. And it helps that I have a Mercedes X Class. As a paradox, this model should not be produced anymore. Keep up with good woork old shap !

[@pgk1940]

This car brings back memories. In 1952, my mother, sister and I were to join my father in Canada, to where he had emigrated earlier that year. To transport us from our home near Wuppertal to Bremerhaven, where we would board our ship, my uncle rented a Mercedes 170 V. To see us off in Bremerhaven, my aunt, as well as both ofproverbial I don't know what the total load was, but I would estimate that it was in excess of 600 Kg, as none of the adults were very small, and there was also some luggage. Somewhere along the way, my uncle said that there seemed to be a problem with the car, and he found what I believe might have been a Mercedes dealership, but they also had a repair shop. We did some sight seeing while the shop looked after the car. If memory serves me correctly, it wasn't all that long until the car was repaired. My uncle said that the problem was a broken spring, and when my aunt asked about the cost, my uncle replied that they had told him that it was something that was not supposed to happen to a Mercedes, and that he would not have to pay anything. Talk about customer service, and backing up a product, even when the car had been loaded far above it's intended capacity. I'm not even certain that there was an actual warranty, or it was just company policy that they cared not only about selling a product, but also about their reputation, as well as wanting satisfied customers. Even at the age of 12 at the time, I thought that was pretty impressive.

[@VanlifewithAlan]

That is a great story - which I might repeat in a future video!

[@pgk1940]

@@VanlifewithAlan Use it as you wish. Thanks for the article.

[@sim6699]

Wood gas powered vehicles is interesting

[@georgegraham3342]

Hi Alan. Greetings from Australia. My first car (1967) was a 170SD. Diesel was not common for cars, so I had to pick where I could get it. Once a garage refused to open a 44gallon drum for me, so I had to scrounge around to find a farmer who would sell me some diesel.

[@chrisneedham5803]

Good video 📹 👍 Cheers 🍷🍺👍

[@VanlifewithAlan]

Thanks Chris - it took around four days to do!

[@marklittler784]

Cars could cost the price of a house even in the uk in 1959 a new three bed semi in the North was £1700 a new Morris minor £600 and that was a cheap small car.

[@VanlifewithAlan]

My parents paid (I think) GBP2200 in 1964 for their house.

[@dietmarwolf79]

Yes, I remember very well. My landlady bought her house in 1961 in Dollis Hill Lane, North London for £1900. I walked to work at Johnson's of Hendon on the North Circular Road. Those were the good old days 😂😜

[@christiankastorf4836]

The music does not fit the 1940s feelings.

[@VanlifewithAlan]

If you have access to any copyright free 1940s music then you could send it to me!

[@christiankastorf4836]

What people in those days really listened to was either dance-music, some people prefered American swing and jazz, otherwise more sentimental stuff. That should be easily attainable.

[@VanlifewithAlan]

@@christiankastorf4836 Where is this easily attainable in a copyright free format?

[@christiankastorf4836]

The most popular song was probably the "Caprifischer", sung by Rudi Schuricke. That emotional rumba (often played in a tango rhythm as well) belonged to those tunes that had Italy as a leading motive in their lyrics. Released in 1943 it was soon banned when Mussolini was removed from office and Italy changed sides. Shortly before the Allied forces had already landed on Sicily and so the song went into the archives along with other "Italienschlager". They all reappeared after 1945 and could be bought again, if there was enough shellac to press them. All in all popular tunes of that immediate postwar era show a high degree of emotional escapism, except from satirical ones that made fun of the mess the country was in. Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga-Choo-Choo" for example became the "Train to Kötschenbroda" ( a suburb of Dresden) that was in a heavy contrast to the journey that the American song desribes. Instead of "sitting in the diner, nothing could be finer" the Germans sang "and in Sonderhausen, you will be deloused". The initiating question "Does this train go to Kötschenbroda" is answered by "Yes, it does, if the coals last".

[@diomedesrosaspon3154]

Mercedes Benz Und Wagner 😁

[@peterstratiotisstratiotis3857]

My.no.eglis.spek