In late 1955 at the Frankfurt International Motor Show Mercedes revealed the L 319 panel van, the first van since the war and what was effectively the grandfather of the modern-day Sprinter series. It was the next year however when production began, with panel van, flatbed pickup, low-loader, mobile shop, and O 319 minibus versions available. The vehicle's maximum gross weight was 3.6 tonnes, with two available payloads of 1.6 and 1.8 tonnes.
Inside, the instrument cluster was very basic - not even a fuel gage was included. At the back however, the L 319 offered a large load area volume of 8.6 cubic metres, due to the set forward position of the driver's cabin.
Until 1962 the van was built in Mercedes' Sindelfingen factory, but during the aforementioned year production was relocated to the then recently acquired Dusseldorf plant, which also supplied parts in the form of unassembled kits to the Vitoria factory in Spain. Panel van based minibuses were constructed in Manheim.
In 1963 the entire truck range's nomenclature was changed after nine years of the previous system. The L 319 became the L 405 and L 407 depending on the horsepower. On the topic of horsepower, 55 hp diesel and 80 hp petrol engines were later added to the range, which made the L 406 and L 408.
Over the twelve year production period the L 319 / L 406 series achieved great popularity, and 140,000 examples of vans, pickups and buses were manufactured.