FrankReynoldsCPA

If @AJT123 hasn't seen this yet, Mr. Sacco was responsible for a lot of iconic classic Benz designs, including the R129 later in his career.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g6...designer-obit/



Bruno Sacco, the legendary Mercedes-Benz design chief, died on September 19 at the age of 90. Sacco was born in northern Italy and received his foundational education there, studying at the Polytechnic University of Turin, and then working at legendary carrozzerie (coachbuilders) Pininfarina and Ghia. But in 1958, he took a job in the styling department at Mercedes-Benz, and he remained there for the rest of his career. Sacco worked at the German automaker for over 40 years; during the last 25, from 1974 to 1999, he held the positions of head of styling and head of design.

Sacco's tenure corresponded with Mercedes design and engineering primacy, one of the most undisputed reigns in automotive history. This was no accident. Sacco believed that Mercedes design must express and signify technical excellence and could never be used to mask or make up for a lack thereof. Benz cars during his era were fiendishly overengineered, robust enough to last 20 or 30 years. This allowed Sacco's designs to present not only restraint and elegance—a representation of the product's pinnacle positioning—but timelessness.

Sacco's core designs of the 1970s and 1980s express the brand's rational exuberance so resolutely as to feel almost preordained. This is, in part, due to his dedication to two principles: Horizontal Affinity and Vertical Affinity. The first aligns consistent design identity throughout a manufacturer's range. ("A Mercedes-Benz must look like a Mercedes-Benz," Sacco once said.) The second provides a manufacturer's cars with timeless elegance such that an owner never feels like they're driving something outdated. ("The successor was never allowed to make the predecessor look really old.")

To commemorate Sacco's life, we have curated this compendium of nine of his greatest Mercedes-Benz designs . . . and one that even he admitted was his worst.

Mercedes-Benz C 111 (1970)

Michael Cole|Getty Images

Before he took over as styling head, Sacco worked on the C 111 concept car, of which 16 were produced. An early exemplar of the "wedge" style that came to dominate supercar design, the C111 was a test bed for advanced technology including ABS, turbocharging, and polymer body panels, and failed tech like the rotary engine.

Mercedes-Benz W123 (1977–1986)

Mercedes-Benz AG - Mercedes-Benz Classic Communications

One of Sacco's earliest projects as styling head was this eminently recognizable mid-size car, which came in coupe, sedan, and wagon body styles. Some 2.7 million were sold, making it the biggest-selling Benz in history. Many are still on the road, looking like old money, a testament to the durability of both their engineering and design.

Mercedes-Benz W/C126 S-Class (1981–1991)

Aaron Kiley|Car and Driver

The W126 stands out in the history of the S-class as a resolute star, the absolute definition of what the model is meant to be: a sedan this is at once domineering, restrained, potent, and iconic. Its analogous two-door sibling, the C126, was one of Sacco's long-term personal cars and allegedly sported the favorite front end of all the cars he designed.

Mercedes-Benz W201 190 Series (1984–1993)

**** Kelley|Car and Driver

When Mercedes decided to create its first "compact" vehicle, intended to compete with intruders like the BMW 3-series sedan and coupe, it leaned on Sacco for a design that would communicate core brand attributes in a smaller package. He absolutely nailed it with crisp lines and perfect proportions that render its appearance balanced, stolid, undiluted, and expensive.

Mercedes-Benz W124 E-Class (1986–1995)

David Dewhurst|Car and Driver

Sacco's principle of Horizontal Affinity may have seen its epitome in the 1980s, when his designs for the aforementioned full-size S-class and compact C-class sedans were joined by this chiseled mid-size block of refined elegance. Coupe, convertible, sedan, and wagon variants were offered. All were, in our opinion, perfect.

Mercedes-Benz R129 SL-Class (1990–2001)

John Roe|Car and Driver

This fifth-generation SL-class replaced the most successful and longest-running SL in Mercedes history, the R107 of 1971–1989. So it had big tires to fill. Aligning design-wise with its sedan siblings, stylistically, was absolutely the proper decision. The R107—elegant, but a bit baroque—now looks like a classic car. The R129 too now looks classic, a rugged forever roadster.

Mercedes-Benz W210 E-Class (1996–2003)

Aaron Kiley|Car and Driver

By the time Sacco's definitive '80s designs were ready to be replaced, we were well into the 1990s. New computer-aided design technologies allowed time-worn components to be interpreted in new forms, cueing incorporation of postmodern retro signifiers. The dual recumbent flush-finish circular headlamps and barrel rounded fenders on this E-class encapsulate this moment, bringing the past into the future.

Mercedes CLK-Class (1998–2003)

Mercedes-Benz AG - Mercedes-Benz Classic Communications

With the E-class having shed its coupe and convertible variants, Mercedes invented a new category: fixed- and retractable-roofed two-doors slotting between the C-class and E-class, size-wise. Appropriating design elements from both, scaled up or down, this windswept model filled a void, and looked—and looks—slick doing so.

Mercedes-Benz W220 S-Class (2000–2005)

Daimler AG - Global Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars

You may have noticed a gap between the last Sacco S-class we discussed and this one. That will be explained in the next slide. Suffice it to say that this lithe, almost Italianate Big Benz made up for the sins of its predecessor, shedding weight but increasing passenger comfort and providing a return to the suave dignity for which the model has been, and remains, known.

Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class (1992–1999)

Mercedes-Benz AG - Mercedes-Benz Classic Communications

Even a genius has an occasional miss. The W140 is Sacco's. The design carries forward much of the core S-class equity such as evolutionary scale, exacting imposition, and courtly burnish. It just happens to have terrible proportions, with an outsize, Panzer-esque parabolic greenhouse and an undersize track that makes it look like a high-school football player riding a balance bike. Even Sacco admitted that the design was hideously misshapen. It takes a true master to cop to their mistakes. Bruno Sacco was one.

Fizzboy7

Classic designs that will go down in history. Nothing today is remotely close, but today's new generation has moved forward.