Friedrich Geiger

Not to be confused with Friedrich Geiger (musicologist).

Friedrich Geiger (24 November 1907 – 13 June 1996) was a German automobile designer who designed the pre-World War II Mercedes-Benz 540K and post-war Mercedes-Benz 300SL, which are among the most highly regarded cars in automotive history.

Friedrich Geiger
Friedrich Geiger.
Born	24 November 1907 Süßen, German Empire
Died	June 13, 1996(1996-06-13) (aged 88) Bad Überkingen, Germany
Known for	Automobile design

Biography

Born in Süßen in the Swabian region of southern Germany, Geiger originally trained as a cartwright, before studying as a design engineer at University prior to joining Daimler-Benz in April 1933. He began in the special vehicles manufacturing department, where, in the 1930s, he was responsible for the 500K and 540K sports cars.

Geiger left Daimler-Benz in April 1948, but returned to the company two years later, this time as a test engineer in the styling department. He became head of styling within a few years, after designing the 300SL gullwing coupé, named one of the ten greatest Mercedes ever built and one of the 25 greatest cars of the 20th century.^[1][2]

Geiger continued to work at Daimler-Benz until his retirement in December 1973, by which time he had helped create the W111/W112 (1959) and W110 (1961) "Fintails", the W113 "Pagoda" (1963) and R107 (1971) SL coupé/convertibles, the W108/109 (1965) and W116 (1972) series of the S-Class, the mid-size W123 range, and the Mercedes-Benz 600 limousine (1963).

Geiger was succeeded by Bruno Sacco, one of his staff at the styling department.

Geiger died in Bad Überkingen in 1996, aged 88.

Gallery

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  Mercedes-Benz 500K cabriolet
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  Mercedes-Benz 540K cabriolet
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  1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL with its gullwing doors open