Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (Germany, 1955-1989)

In the 1st and 2nd years of production (1952-1953), the 300 SL was a racing car, having scored quite a good number of victories and podium positions. In the sole year of 1952, the 300 SL participated on the Mille Miglia, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Berne-Bremgarten, the Eifelrennen race at the Nürburgring and the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico.

Good aerodynamic features along with low weight stimulated competitiveness and reliability for the 300 SL on the circuits, improving its winning odds.

Curiously, the original Mercedes “300” series were actually a set of large luxurious limousines.
The 300 SL was once nicknamed as the “widowmaker” for having left several male drivers die when they crashed.

The first ever 300 SL saw the light of day in 1952 as a road racing automobile, actually achieving some remarkable results on some of those races. This “Sport Light” (SL) restored Mercedes-Benz’s reputation for releasing powerful sports cars after the World War II ended.
The “300” stands for its engine’s cylinder displacement, which is 3 liters, and the “SL” would be the start of the Mercedes-Benz class of roadsters. Besides that, this was the first gasoline-driven automobile in history to have direct fuel injection.

Nonetheless, Mercedes decided to make a ‘regular’ road car out of the racer 300 SL and in 1954 the 300 SL Coupé was released as a publicly available ‘Gran Tourism’ sports car, not any longer restricted to racing. The Daimler-Benz company was persuaded by their official American importer, Maximilian E. Hoffman, to start selling the 300 SL to the common public as a sports model, as this man promised them it would be a huge success in the US market.
Opposite to the usual European-soil presentation of the other Mercedes-Benz’s models, the Coupé debuted on the 1954 New York Auto Show.

This new 300 SL has been known as the ‘Gullwing’ ever since its release, due to its upward-opening doors, otherwise known as butterfly wings, which clearly look a lot like a pair of bird wings when open.
These ‘wings’ weren’t there as a mere design choice, but were rather conditioned by the car’s peculiar tubular framed chassis. However, it was evidently because of them that the 300 SL became an emblematic vehicle and a revolutionary car for its era.

The ‘Gullwing’ version of the 300 SL was only available until 1957, when it was replaced by the roadster version, which would be the one responsible for the SL’s status as a roadster family. By that time, this was the world’s fastest car that was being made.
By the year it stopped being made, in 1963, the 300 SL had become an outrageously fast convertible car, inevitably meant for the wealthier people only to buy.
A total of around 1400 units were produced, of which over 80% were sold in the United States due to that country’s far better post-War economical conditions.

This mid-20th century car would be voted “Sports car of the century” in 1999.

The 300 SL was built with a SOHC 3.0L front-engine, with 200 to 240hp output and achieved a top speed of up to 161 mi/h (260 km/h).
This rear-wheel drive model was assisted by a 4-speed manual transmission.

The German Railways chief developing engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, and chief of construction, Nallinger, were the men behind the body concept of the first 300 SL (racing version), which was launched in 1952.
The Mercedes 300 SL is a two-seat, two-door sports car, firstly available as a gullwing-doors coupé and afterwards as an open roadster.

Aerodynamics was the most important feature to be given to this model, as it was especially meant to achieve great speeds on the road with the less possible drag. Consequently, those characteristic horizontal “eyebrows” above the wheels were placed in this streamlined car and its body ‘skin’ could either come in mostly steel or in plain aluminum (80kg/176lb less).
Unusual sleekness of the lines made this a rather forward-headed and innovative car, besides making it a renowned design icon.