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2007 Mercedes-Benz Ocean Drive Concept

Four-door convertibles are exotic machines that belong to a genre that time has more or less forgotten about.The most popular vehicle in this class was the Lincoln Continental from the 1960s, which, aside from being elegantly simple in its design, gained its notoriety as being the JFK car. Not too long ago, American coachwork company ASC brought the idea back to life when it converted a Chrysler 300C into a soft-top convertible called the Helios. Despite positive critical acclaim and many enthusiasts urging the brand to consider production, nothing has yet to happen. Two years on, Mercedes-Benz has decided to give the four-door convertible a go with its brand new Ocean Drive Concept, which will debut at this year’s North American International Auto Show.

Named after a wealthy stretch of coastal road in California,

Few manufacturers ponder the idea of an open-topped four-door convertible. But Mercedes? Well, they've done it all. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

the OceanDrive is full of daydream-worthy connotations. It’s exactly the place where you’d want to be spending time behind the wheel (or, perhaps lounging in back) of this elegant vehicle. Those rear doors also serve a very useful purpose, removing the rather inelegant maneuvers of getting into the back of a regular two-door convertible. There’s no more flipping the front seat forward, and fumbling with the front seatbelt. Just open the door, step in, and recline.

The soft-top roof spans the luxurious, roomy cabin. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

Ahhh... I can just imagine it now, indulging in the best materials that M-B’s craftspeople could get their hands on and endless, azure-colored skies above.

Allowing drivers and passengers to focus on the world around rather than on thecar is Mercedes-Benz’s top-notch engineering. One of the biggest problems with convertibles - especially pillarless four-door convertibles - is that they tend to be weak in the middle. Take that Continental Convertible for instance; if all four of its doors were opened at the same time, the whole vehicle would actually sag, bending at the center. Mercedes-Benz’s engineers wouldn’t

It won't have the same problems that the weak-kneed Continental had when it comes to structural rigidity. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

be caught dead letting a vehicle with such flimsy characteristics wear the three-pointed star, therefore they’ve stiffened its undersides so it can stand strongly on its own, even with all four doors opened. Certainly, it didn’t help that the Lincoln had rear-hinged "suicide" doors, whereas the Ocean Drive has standard opening doors. Aside from that issue, there are other reasons why the Ocean Drive has a much stronger chassis; it prevents it from creaking and bending while on the move, and ensures that the car will remain intact in the event of a crash.

Flying in the face of the latest trends it helped to initiate with its SL andSLK roadsters, Mercedes chose not to use a retractable

Cloth roof keeps the Ocean Drive's profile very clean. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

hardtop but instead opted for a cloth top when covering the Ocean Drive’s interior, just like on the CLK-Class convertible. They say that it’s present for the purpose of looking graceful while in motion, which is the same reason provided by Bentley for its Continental GTC convertible. Really, though, I think that it has more to do with design and style, two elements of the jewel-like car that could not be compromised. With the exception of Mercedes’ own two-seat folding hardtop convertibles, the rest of the industry’s attempts at making a multi-tasking convertible roof end up somewhat odd looking. Their decklids are too square or too high, and to accommodate the folding mechanism the roofs tend to look funny in that they’re too curved and unnaturally proportioned. Even with all the money in the world and the best

It just wouldn't have been the same with a retractable hardtop roof system. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

designers for this one-off concept car, I still struggle to believe that Benz could have accomplished what all the other automakers have yet to do when it comes to producing an attractive retractable hardtop.

And then there’s the roof mechanism itself. Folding hardtop convertibles work on two and two-plus-two cars likethe Mazda MX-5 Power Retractable Hard Top, or the Volvo C70, to name a couple. By comparison, the Ocean Race is practically a limousine. To span the length of the cabin with anything other than a pliable soft material would be akin to raising and lowering a bridge. That’s a lot of metal, glass, and extra weight to account for. This route would also require stronger electric motors in order to cope with the roof itself, plus there’s the need to ensure that it would open and close in a reasonable amount of time. Nevertheless, decades’ worth of soft-top experience and the latest in acoustic

Ocean Drive is remarkably similar to the S-Class, despite not sharing a single body panel. All the shapes are the same though. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

roof technology should make the Ocean Drive just as calming and quiet when the roof is up as a hardtop.

Thoughthe Ocean Drive is clearly related to the S-Class in almost every way, sans its lack of a B-pillar and its Bird’s Eye Maple tonneau cover, every single body panel on the convertible is different. The grille is more prominent than the S-Class because it’s been scaled up in size, while the standard swiveling beam xenon headlamps have been replaced by state of the art LEDs. The doors have concave surfaces and the wheel arches - a source of much discussion with the production S-Class - have been reshaped, making the fenders flow a little better. This new exterior was then finished in not two but three different shades of paint; a medium gray for the hood, pillars and decklid, plus a strip along the side, while the bulk of the body is a lighter silver. The lower flanks of the Ocean Drive are finished in a unique 3D-textured paint that looks like marble.

Mechanically, the Ocean Drive is a carbon copy

Fully operational, the Ocean Drive comes packed with all the goodies you might find on a fully-loaded S600. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)

of any top-of-the-line S600 long-wheelbase. The engine is the same 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V12 that makes 510 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque, and drives through a stout five-speed automatic transmission. It won’t be as quick as an S600, but it will certainly be quick enough to leave almost every other four-seat convertible in an elegant wake. And even though the Ocean Drive will almost never leave the show car circuit, it has all the safety features that the regular S600 might have, including PRE-SAFE, Brake Assist Plus and radar cruise control. Consider it Mercedes-Benz flexing their technological muscles.

And what about production? Mercedes-Benz insists that the Ocean Drive is a one-off show vehicle, but we have an inkling that it could be much more. The fact of the matter is that currently the S-Class is the world’s best-selling full-size luxury sedan. Removing the roof would help Mercedes-Benz reach new heights in the premium market, venturing in a direction where no other automakers - most importantly, premium-branded automakers - are currently established.

Specifications (Ocean Drive):

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