When it came to picking prototypes, WIKING founder Friedrich Peltzer had the Midas touch – he rightly deserves posthumous kudos for that. The credit...
When it came to picking prototypes, WIKING founder Friedrich Peltzer had the Midas touch – he rightly deserves posthumous kudos for that. The credit is justly due - especially when you look at the way the Panorama bus turned out a half a century later. Day-trippers took great pleasure in mingling on the O 319 - not least because it offered them true living room comfort. Designed to cross the Alps at a slow crawl, the vehicle was also supposed to offer plenty of space for luggage and tents. To this end, it simply hitched to a trailer - a common practice back then. WIKING even furnished the O 319 with curtains at the window pillars – an attractive upgrade that communicates the custom and character of the time. Coach operators almost universally ordered the luxury version of the Mercedes-Benz O 319 with its ornate bi-colour design, which was modelled after the design of the large tour buses. The combination of roof-edge and large-surface glazing turned the Mercedes-Benz O 319 into a highly sought-after minibus. Engineered with a permissible gross weight of up to 3.9 tonnes, the series was unveiled at the 1955 International Automobile Fair, IAA. Many freshly established coach operators banked their fledgling operations on the O 319 as they considered it to be ideal for the flourishing business with company outings. 1967 saw the last O 319 roll off the conveyor belt in Düsseldorf.
Product EAN 4006190260046
