Postwar significance and 1930s-carryover design

Commenters place the W187 as a car built while Germany was still digging out of WWII rubble, essentially a 1930s design (down to the crank-hole cover in the grille) that reused prewar toolings and was important to the postwar economy. It is positioned as neither a stripped-out 170 nor a barge like the 300, effectively the E-Class of its day and a smaller, cheaper echo of the 300S in design.