It was a luxury car produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1951-1955. The car was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in April 1951; it was powered by a single overhead camshaft inline six-cylinder M180 engine and was offered as a saloon coupe and, Cabriolet with 220 model design. It had a pre-World War 2 reputation of producing luxury cars which they continued to manufacture post-war years. Mercedes Benz produced only four cylinder-engined passenger cars. The first to feature six-cylinder engines were the W187 Mercedes-Benz 220 and Adenauer W186 Mercedes-Benz 300 which were together introduced in 1951.
Their styling was similar to Mercedes-Benz 170S except that the 170’s freestanding headlights were integrated into the 220 fenders to give it a more modern look. Cabriolet models produced two different cars which were built specifically as sporting cars with exclusive character although only 1278 units of the ‘A’ (2-door 2/3) and ‘B’ (2-door, 4-seat) were sold. In 195 Cabriolet A models derived W187 Coupe that was launched in 1954. The Mercedes-Benz sales department said this was to respond to pressing requests from top celebrities of the time. To highlight the sporting nature of the 2/3 seater Cabriolet A and the new Coupe, a slightly curved windscreen was introduced.
All 220s used a newly built M180 six-cylinder 2195cc engine that produced a horsepower of 80. This was the first engine to be produced by Mercedes-Benz after ten years and attracted many in the motoring press and gave the car a new look as contrasted to its old-fashioned look. Valves were operated by short rocker arms from an overhead camshaft. The manufacturer got a top speed of 140km/h for the salon and a45km/h for the cabriolet model. The W187 replaced the recently dropped 170s cabriolet and derived its bodywork. The W187 was a heavy car with the Duplex drum brakes and had extra power. The saloon bodied cars were dropped in 1954 while the Cabriolet A and the Coupe were installed with a higher compression 85 PS engine that had been built for the soon-to-be-launched Pontoon bodied Mercedes-Benz W187. The coupe and cabriolet lasted till 1955 and the 220 saloons were replaced by the W105/W180 line of 1953.