Mercedes-Benz Prints

Mercedes-Benz has spent well over a century defining what a luxury car should be, from Karl Benz’s Patent-Motorwagen of 1886 to the 300SL of 1954, whose gullwing doors and direct fuel injection set the template for every SL that followed. This collection celebrates that engineering, and the confidence of the advertising that sold it.

Vintage print ads are remastered from the original campaigns for the 300SL, the R107 380SL, 450SL and 560SL, and the W126 and W140 S-Class, the full-size sedans that set the benchmark for comfort and safety through the 1980s and 1990s. Modern chapters include the SLS AMG Black Series, the SLR McLaren and the G63 AMG, alongside minimalist illustrations of the 190E 2.5-16 Evolution II and the R129 SL500.

For the story of the S-Class built so solidly it earned a nickname, read The Last Overengineered Tank of Stuttgart. Choose the three-pointed star that matches your taste, or have your own car drawn as a commissioned print.

To see these campaigns side by side, visit the Mercedes-Benz chapter of our Lost Ads Archive, where each remastered advertisement appears with its original headline and the history behind it.