June 22, 2022 Update – The high bid of $2,700 did not meet the seller’s reserve price so we’ve moved this 1961 Mercedes-Benz to our “Rides Still Available” Page.  Once registered and logged in, select the teal “Start Bidding” option, enter your credit card info, and then enter your offer in the “Bid Directly” box. Have questions? Please call Rudy at (877) 468-6497 to learn more.

Guys With Rides is excited to offer this diesel-powered, W121 “Ponton”, 1961 Mercedes-Benz 190D four-door sedan in an online, reserve-style auction we will offer on behalf of the private seller.

Bidding opened Wednesday, June 8, 2022, and continues for fourteen consecutive days ending at 6:30 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 22, 2022.

This 1961 Mercedes is the latest addition to our Reasonable Rides Collection, which only features cars with a reserve price under $10,000.

This vintage 1961 W121 Mercedes-Benz currently resides in Shelbyville, Illinois, which is situated approximately halfway between St. Louis and Indianapolis.

(NOTE: Click on the picture to stop the slide show and expand the pictures. Scroll down to see all photographs)

Current High Bid = $2,700

Mercedes-Benz offered their entry-level W120/W121 four-door sedans from 1953 through 1962 with inline four-cylinder engines in either gas or diesel form.  While the original W120 sedan offered engines with 1.8 Liter displacement, Mercedes-Benz launched the W121 as the Mercedes-Benz 190 in 1956. W121 models came powered by either Mercedes’ 1.9 liter M 121 gas engine or the company’s 1.9 Liter OM 621 diesel powerplant. Mercedes sold the latter as the 190D through the 1961 Model year.

The W121 Mercedes-Benz featured a longitudinally-mounted front-engine and rear-wheel drive. Relying on what is now commonly referred to as a Unibody, the W121 featured Ponton styling, which meant the pontoon-like bodywork enclosed the full width and uninterrupted length of a car body — eliminating previously distinct running boards and articulated fenders of earlier cars. In front, the 190D features an independent double-wishbone suspension while in the rear end features a single-joint independent swing axle. Using coil springs at all four corners, the front axle relies on a torsion-type anti-sway bar, and the rear wheels have additional hydraulic shock absorbers. Mercedes-Benz cars of this vintage relied on a recirculating ball steering and hydraulic drum brakes.  The torque is sent from the engine to the rear wheels through a dry single-disc clutch and a synchronized, four-speed constant-mesh gearbox. The shift lever is a rather small lever mounted on the steering column.

The seller notes their 1961 Mercedes-Benz 190D is a running and driving example and notes the entire braking system (everything past the master cylinder) has just been replaced.  Because parts are hard to come by the mechanic who did the job ended up removing my brake shoes and sending them off to be rebuilt because there were no commercially available brake shoes.  The brake system has less than 100 miles of wear on it.

The pre-purchase inspection confirmed this 1961 Mercedes-Benz 190D to be a driver-quality car in need of some TLC.  The picture below contains the Lemon Squad Pre-Purchase Inspection completed and prepared on Monday, June 6, 2022, just prior to the start of this auction. To review the Pre-Purchase Inspection, please click on the picture below. When finished, click on your browser’s back button to return back to this listing:

To help you make informed bids, we’re providing access to Classic.com, the analytics and search engine for the Classic Car market, that provides an interactive graph of recent comparable sales in the past two years. By clicking on the green dots, you can navigate to each comparable car sold as a way to help you make an educated bid on the car we are featuring for auction here:

Here’s the Exterior Photograph Gallery.  Click on a desired picture to expand it and then navigate between all of the other pictures

Here’s the Interior Photograph Gallery.  Click on the desired picture to expand it and then navigate between all of the other pictures.

Here’s the Underhood and Undercarriage Photograph Gallery.  Click on the desired picture to expand it and then navigate between all of the other pictures.

Here’s the Tires & Wheels Photograph Gallery.  Click on the desired picture to expand it and then navigate between all of the other pictures.

Here’s the Windows & Mirrors Photograph Gallery.  Click on the desired picture to expand it and then navigate between all of the other pictures.

Here’s the Documentation Photograph Gallery.  Click on the desired picture to expand it and then navigate between all of the other pictures.

If you have any questions about this diesel-powered 1961 Mercedes-Benz W121 190D sedan, please leave a comment below or feel free to call Rudy directly at 877-468-6497.  Thank you for looking and happy bidding!