1959 Mercedes 190SL Automatic Transmission Conversion

1959 Mercedes 190SL Automatic Transmission Conversion

A customer in Texas contacted us with a special request; She loves her Mercedes 190SL but wanted the smooth easy to use Automatic transmission in place of the 4-speed manual.

The 190SL was never built with an automatic, so this will have to be a custom fitment but we decided to take on the job!

We sourced a suitable Mercedes Automatic trans from a later 190 Fintail Sedan which also supplied all of it’s unique components required for the conversion: Flywheel & flywheel housing, electrical harness & switches, speedometer cable etc. A Mercedes 230SL Automatic floor shifter was selected to keep the installation a stock-appearing as possible.

UPDATE 9/9/2021 : Plenty of fabrication was needed to fit the larger K4A025 Automatic transmission behind the M121 four-cylinder. We widened the transmission tunnel (which is a structural part of the chassis on these cars) then fully boxed & welded it to retain its strength. A Transmission mounting plate was fabricated similar to a W113 to strengthen the center chassis and support the transmission.

An upper transmission tunnel was fabricated to house the Automatic shifter. which will seamlessly integrate into the widened transmission tunnel.

Check back for more updates!