Collection of Print Ads (Mostly US, UK, Australia)

[Jack the Knife]

I've clipped a few ads for our cars from time-to-time. I've attached a few with better resolution. I've noticed the 230SL has by far the most ads -- variants, widespread run, full-page, image-heavy, etc. which dwindles as time goes on. The 250SL only had one paper ad of note in the US, which was a sort of rehashing of the first ad posted below -- there were some contemporary reviews, but I tend to not capture these.

1) This ad had a national run in most major newspapers, oddly mostly in January of '67, 3 years and change into production and shortly after 250SL production began.
2) Similar run to the above, but in June of '66.
3) Typical of big 'reveal' ads for the 230SL, this one is early -- October of '63.
4) Another 'first showing,' this one in April of '64.

[Jack the Knife]

1) Another early salon ad for a first showing, June '63
2) As above, Dec. '63
3) One of my favorite graphics for the Pagoda, especially since the windmill-type palm on the right could be mistaken for Florida or parts of California. Nov. '64
4) April of '64

[Jack the Knife]

1) A slightly different first showing ad, Nov. '64
2) The one major 250SL ad I could locate in any US paper that was not an organic review. Very strangely this one ran before the huge 230SL ad from the first post -- May of '67.
3) The last big newspaper ad for the 280SL. It is interesting seeing the shift in tone amongst ad men by this point. April of '68.
4) July of '69 in Kent, England. Of the ads I've seen there, they tend to be small, like this one, or else a review.

[Jack the Knife]

1) Typical of the sorts of ads I'd see running in Florida, but this is in London -- big sedan or maybe a coupe first-and-foremost, then incidentally, hey, we have this sports car. The character of this one is quite different. The W113 is a GT car now, full stop. August of '68.
2) More like the earlier ads, this one appeared in Ontario, Canada. The language certainly feels directly lifted from the great 230SL ads in the first post, an interesting contrast to the London ad. June of '70.
3) The latest one I've seen, appeared in Sydney, and again, resembles more the earlier ads. Great illustration, and I feel it to be one of the best ads for these that ever appeared in a newspaper. July of '70, the latest ad I could find.

[Jack the Knife]

I have fewer magazine ads as I save these when they come up on eBay. Some of the better art is seen within those. As these are typically being sold as a single page, I usually don't know the date printed.

1) This one was pretty widespread and I believe mostly featured in print in '63-'64.
2) A little more louche, same era as above.
3) Not quite an SL ad but might as well be.
4) Not strictly SL, but typical of the combination ads I've seen.

[Jack the Knife]

1) A fairly rare ad as it was for the 250SL in British publications.
2) The SL featured prominently in a Playboy review in the early '60s in 230SL form. Some nice feature artwork from that article is floating around somewhere of the car with a ski rack on.
3) An early Australian (I believe) ad from Aug of '63. If this ad were produced today, I would accuse Mercedes of using Midjourney or something, as it is somewhat surreal.
4) The first time I've seen the car marketed towards women -- UK, circa 1970.

[John Betsch - "SADIE"]

I believe this might be an interesting addition to the Tech Manual gathering input of members building upon Jack the Knife's initiative.  I  am sure we all have gathered some in our own files

Opinions of anyone?

jb

[mdsalemi]

It's a great idea!

Long ago and far away when I first acquired my Pagoda from my aunt, one of the first things I did was start to acquire books on the car to begin my education. I also joined the MBCA mostly for the magazine which was full of advertising which I thought would be useful when trying to restore and maintain the car.

One of the books I first bought was the Brooklands publication,  "Gold Portfolio" of the Pagoda. I believe this is now long out of print; even the same edition for the R107 is only available used on Amazon at an eye-popping price.

Aside from the road tests of the period from myriad publications, there were a lot of old ads reproduced, too.

Perhaps we should collect these and put them in as an appendix to the next edition of the Pagoda World Book, Volume IV which is some years yet in the future.

[lreppond]

It's a great idea!


Perhaps we should collect these and put them in as an appendix to the next edition of the Pagoda World Book, Volume IV which is some years yet in the future.

I think this is really a great idea!  I really enjoy seeing these old ads.