The marketing of the W 140 happened to overlap with another great era: that of graphic editing technology. This was between spliced film with tweezers and Photoshop came to PCs. On the one hand, the 90s meant that the update cycles of cars became shorter and more frequent. On the other hand, the development of graphic editing technology made it possible to produce new photos without a camera.
This article is about a process of discovery. So why is it under Photoreception and not Investigation? Obviously, one of the things that photorecepion is about is insight. If you can’t see the subtle differences in a photo, you can’t really read a photo. If you can’t read a photo, unless you’re a genius, it’s hard to make any progress in photography. Of course, if you’re a genius, you don’t need to read this. As I write this I have discovered two frustrating WordPress updates. One of them has changed titles to all caps, but we aren’t emphasizing anything. This is our first post with an all caps title, and another post I drafted a few hours ago is still lowercase, which is embarrassing.
W 140 has absolute legitimacy as a carrier of observation. In <Investigation: “Mixed grille for starters”>, we have already introduced that Staud Studio installed the first Kodak Premier image processing system in Europe to modify incorrect parts when taking the first batch of news photos in the fall of 1990. W 140 was one of the first cars to receive digital image editing. But those were premiere photos, and image editing was for rapid modification rather than updating the appearance. In fact, image editing was also quite common in the film era, and almost all professional advertising photos were edited and beautified. Including modifying the flaws of the car, adjusting light and shadow, and replacing the background, these techniques I want to save for later. Today’s topic is those image-edited photos that once appeared in sales brochures.
It is worth noting that the photos that are edited are usually those of the marketing department, which are mostly used in sales brochures, as opposed to those of the press department. This is considered a different genre by MB140.SCHOOL, and we also introduced it in <Photoreception: Three classic genre of 140 photography>. Press photos are taken by the press department themselves and are rarely edited too much. Marketing department photos are produced by professional agencies, tend to have more aesthetic value, and are fewer in number. Since the North American market gets its own sales materials, we’ll introduce the European and North American versions of the car separately by model year. As for the Japanese versions, they mostly just borrow photos from the European ones. This topic will become a series published as part of Photoreception.
The first case of the series is the Coupé sales brochure, which has the longest history and the most variants. Although the Coupé is a separate product, it received limited investment from the outset due to minimal expected sales among all Mercedes-Benz production models at that time. In the following case, the Coupé’s marketing photos were reused as much as possible, which lasted for several years. We will divide it into two parts, MY1992-MY1996 and MY1997-MY1998 as two groups of photos were used. We’ll look at each perspective in the brochures and compare them between versions to see how they evolve. There’s a lot to ponder as you search for differences, i.e. what they changed, forgot to change, or changed by mistake. I will provide some comments below each version, enjoy.
MY1992-MY1996
The first sales brochure for the C 140 was released in October 1992, consists of two cars, the 500 SEC (A087190, S-EC 80) in 199 Metallic Black and 600 SEC (A056360, S-EC 60, also the earliest car in the press photo) in 744 Brilliand Silver. Note that the Coupé’s production run was significantly delayed from premiere, being unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January 1992 but not going on sale until October 1992. The silver 600 SEC in this brochure is one of two cars participated the Detroit world premiere, the black 500 SEC is a freshly produced example. Although much earlier, the silver 600 SEC is the absolute mainstay in the sales brochure, with all angles of exterior and interior. By the way, the arctic background of this set of photos is not the actual shooting. But that’s not the point of our observation.
Evolution of the 600 SEC, A056360’s profile.
10-1992, original version.
08-1994, new 5-Loch. Elimination of V12 badge. At the same time they lowered the ride height as the suspension was lowered 10mm across the range around A120931. On this brochure it looks to be lowered even more. These changes are of course achieved through graphic editing.
02-1995, elimination of back-up aid on rear fender, a minor change. The change means MY1996. This is the last version of this photos. On the side, it doesn’t have too many changes. Let’s look at the next perspective.
Evolution of the 600 SEC, A056360’s front 45°
10-1992, original version.
08-1994, new 5-Loch, new license number S-LP 7106. Of course, there is also a reduced ground clearance. It is not necessary to update the license plate, but the S-LP is indeed a 1994 Stuttgart number plate. Maybe they actually registered this number, but the photo is still original. Note that the V12 badge is still on the C-pillar in this view, but has been removed in the side view photo in the same brochure.
02-1995, elimination of back-up aid on rear fender, V12 badge is still there. Although the Coupé was not considered to have a facelift before MY1997, there are some changes inside and outside that can be identified from exterior picture. At least around A273050, that is, close to the launch of MY1996, it received new door mirrors. In addition, from January 1, 1995, all German vehicles have an infrared receiver for the anti-theft system under the interior door mirror.
Evolution of the 600 SEC, A056360’s top view
10-1992, original version.
08-1994, new 5-Loch, new license number S-LP 7106, lower clearance. It also has the V12 badge on the C-pillar. This photo comes from Mercedes’ digital archives, where they call this car the S 600 Coupé. Frankly if you look closely the angles on the new wheels don’t match up that well, they could have done better.
02-1995, elimination of back-up aid on rear fender. This is the only modification compared to the previous version. Likewise, it lacks new side mirrors. Let’s move on to the next perspective.
Evolution of the 600 SEC, A056360’s rear. This is a secondary view, which is smaller in size than the other perspectives and therefore has fewer pixels. Does this mean less effort?
10-1992, original version. Note that there is no infrared receiver on the left of the trunk lock of A056360. This is its original spec and, without infrared remote control.
08-1994, new name plate S 600 on trunk lid. New license number S-LP 7106. Lower clearance.
02-1995, elimination of back-up aid. No changes on three rear view mirrors. They should also add infrared receiver to the left side of the trunk lock.
A056360 and A087190 both have lower resolution front photos and the only changed part is the license plate, so they are no longer listed separately. The black A087190 is presented in an absolutely secondary capacity, only the front and rear. To give it more or less presence we will observe the rear part where there is more information.
Evolution of the 500 SEC, A087190’s rear
10-1992, original version.
08-1994. In the new brochure, the 500 SEC now has new number plate S-LP 7345 and now a S 420 Coupé that released at Genf 1994 not long ago. At this view they don’t appear to have lowered the suspension.
02-1995, MY1996, elimination of back-up aid.
These are all the exterior photos worth comparing. The latest version of the series comes from 03-1996, but it is no different from issue 08-1995. The interior has also kept up with the times, with more thorough and subtle revisions than the exterior. Evolution of the 600 SEC, A056360’s dashboard.
10-1992, original version. It can be clearly identified by the options that it is A056360. Yes. There are no heated seats in the Polar.
08-1994, no longer A056360 because major improvment happaned. But worth some comment because the subsequent application of graphic editing. The dashboard photo was re-photographed but the background outside the window was maintained. The new car being shot has the Exclusiv interior. The vehicle photographed is A162942.
08-1995, the dashboard updated with multiple MY1996 details. Now a new A/C panel, so the individual activated carbon filter switch is eliminated. The APS unit replaced the Becker radio. The shift gate was changed from 4 speed to 5 speed, although the 5-speed should be plastic instead of wood. More options were also added. This update is more or less careful, it takes into account the change in the position of the roller blind switch.
This set of photos was valid up to end of the pre-facelift, a total of 5 model years. Changing all the photos must have been a time consuming project but still cheaper than reshooting the whole series for the new wheels.
MY1997-MY1998
For MY1997, the sales brochure cut an actual new car into the previous template, photographed at the previous angle. The car is A328461, with license plate S-MK 1198, indeed a 1997 CL 600. This is also the only car in the new brochure. As a new series, it also received some image editing in the future.
05-1996, MY1997, from program brochure only. As an emphasis, the program brochure used another car that wasn’t a V12, but it had a V12 badge. No APS or telelphone antenna.
Evolution of the CL 600, A328461’s profile.
10-1996, original version. MY1997, with APS antenna on trunk lid and telelphone antenna on rear roof.
08-1997, MY1998. Elimination of APS antenna. The APS antenna disappeared due to the APS III antenna being integrated with the phone anenna. However, the antenna on rear roof in this photo is still the MY1997 phone antenna, not the APS combination antenna.
03-1998. Added the extra fender turn signal that became standard on MY1998. Although only two model years are involved, there are at least 3 versions.
Evolution of the CL 600, A328461’s front 45°
10-1996, original version. MY1997, with telelphone antenna on rear roof.
03-1998. Added the extra fender turn signal that became standard on MY1998. The APS antenna is not visible from this angle, so the MY1998 version from 08-1997 is no different from the MY1997. However, the turn signal on the fender should have appeared on the 08-1997, all views above miss this change.
Evolution of the CL 600, A328461’s top view
10-1996, original version. MY1997, with APS antenna on trunk lid and telelphone antenna on rear roof.
08-1997, MY1998. Elimination of APS antenna. Please try to see the changes in the top mirror, it is not so obvious in the shadow. If you can’t see it, don’t worry, we move to the next view.
03-1998. Added the extra fender turn signal that became standard on MY1998.
Evolution of the CL 600, A328461’s rear. I’m happy to show the less noticeable rear photos, which have received a more detailed update.
10-1996, original version, MY1997. Note the infrared receiver under the top mirror. It should have been present on German cars from 01-1995, but previous revisions to older versions overlooked this. Now, the earliest MY1997 cars inherit such a mirror, but no longer have an infrared receiver inside.
08-1997, MY1998. Elimination of APS antenna on trunk lid. New top mirror without infrared receiver. Very detailed modification, but I did not find such changes in other views. However, the detail that must be criticized is the lack of third brake light, which has been standard since MY1998 and was not corrected in the later 03-1998 either.
The above is the summary of the independent brochure. As a supplement, The C 140 first appeared on the cover of the program brochure in 08-1993. This was because the SEC was now an official member of the S-Class: the S Coupé. The photo was actually a mirror image from the previous SEC brochure, as it lacked the fuel door on the passenger side that facing the reader. The marketing department was so fond of putting the front of the car on the left side of the photo and the rear on the right that now there wasn’t even a single photo of the entire company with the front of the car facing right, but they decided to make a photo with all the cars facing right.
08-1993, original version.
08-1994. By the way, it also got the new 5-Loch.
Graphics editing is so common on Mercedes brochures from early 90s. But of all the above comparisons, the most impressive thing is the subjectivity of each update. The updates are not always consistent, sometimes different views in the same brochure will have different degrees of changes. For example, the V12 badge was removed from the side view of A056360 in 08-1994, but not from other views. Sometimes the changes are very detailed, such as the changes to the top mirror in MY1998. Sometimes the changes are very careless, such as the forgotten third brake light in two MY1998 updates.
You can feel the presence of people behind these photos, they may be worked by different people, communicated in different ways, and therefore there will be different degrees of inconsistency. Even for a brand like Mercedes-Benz that is the most generous in marketing, there will be inaccuracies. This topic will be a long-term series, and we will have many photos to discuss.