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

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 S...