1956 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

edited by David Barth, 5 December 2008.
Courtesy "The Auto Collections" showroom at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino in Las, Vegas, Nevada, USA. Photos were taken 18 November 2008. The text is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Some of the information presented below is from "Imperial Palace Auto Collection" by Ralph Engelstad, owner of the hotel/casino and the automobiles until his death in 2002.

Chassis number: 198040-10-5500589
Engine number: 1989805500605
Body number: 5500569

History:
In the early 1950's, Mercedes Benz engineer Rudolph Uhlenhaut prepared a card for the return to racing. The identification for the car was 300SL:

• 300: represents the displacement of 3.0 liters
• S: for "Sport"
• L: for "Leicht," meaning "light"

Characteristics of the 300SL racer:

• Engine: straight-six, set at a 45 degree angle to allow a low hood
• Camshaft: single, overhead
• Bore: 85mm
• Stroke: 88mm
• Displacement: 3.0 liters (183 cubic inches)
• Power: 175 hp at 5,200 rpm
• Weight: 1,918 pounds

Because of the heavy engine, Uhlenhaut built the car with small-diameter steel tubes. To preserve structural strength, the car could not have conventional doors, so roof-hinged, "gullwing" doors were added.

In 1952 the car was entered in the Mille Miglia where it lost to a Ferrari. After that race, it won the Swiss Grand Prix, the Le Mans, the German Grand Prix, and the La Carrera Panamericana.

Mx Hoffman, a New York sports car enthusiast, convinced Mercedes to build a road version of the racer. He pre-ordered 1,000 cars. The road car was given fuel injection, a first for a production gasoline-fueled engine. This, along with a new cylinder head, upped the performance.

Characteristics of the 300SL road car:

• Engine: straight-six, set at a 45 degree angle to allow a low hood
• Camshaft: single, overhead
• Bore: 85mm
• Stroke: 88mm
• Displacement: 3.0 liters (183 cubic inches)
• Power: 240 hp at 4,800 rpm
• Weight: 2,700 pounds
• Price: $10,000, but Mercedes lost money on the car, just the same

Production of 1400 cars was distributed across the years as follows:

• 1954: 146 cars
• 1955: 867 cars
• 1956: 311 cars
• 1957: 76 cars

The Mercedes-Benz 300SL was introduced in 1954 as a two-seat, closed sports car with characteristic gull-wing doors. Later it was offered as an open roadster.

Built by Daimler-Benz AG and internally numbered W198, the fuel-injected road version was based (somewhat loosely) on the company's highly successful competition-only sports car of 1952, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL (W194) which had less power, as it still had carburetors.

The road model was suggested by Max Hoffman. Because it was intended for customers whose preferences were reported to Hoffman by dealers he supplied in the booming, post-war American market, it was introduced at the 1954 New York Auto Show—unlike previous models introduced at either the Frankfurt or Geneva shows. The 300SL was best known for both its distinctive gullwing or butterfly wing doors and for being the first-ever gasoline-powered car equipped with fuel injection directly into the combustion chamber. The gullwing version was available from March 1955 to 1957. In Mercedes-Benz fashion, the "300" referred to the engine's cylinder displacement, in this case, three liters. The "SL", as applied to a roadster, stood for "Sport Leicht" or "Sport Light."

More widely produced (25,881 units) and starting in 1954 was the similar-looking 190SL with a 105 hp (78 kW) 4cyl engine, available only as roadster (or with an additional hardtop, as Coupe Roadster). The 190SL, based on a shortened 180 saloon floorpan, was equivalent to today's SLK in its market positioning when compared to the SL. Production for both the 190SL and 300SL ended in 1963 when the 230SL was introduced.

The gullwing doors, hinged at the roof and so named because the open doors resembled a bird's outstretched wings, were implemented as such to accommodate for the car's tubular chassis, designed by DBAG's chief developing engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut. Part of the chassis passed through what would be the lower half of a standard door.

This tubular chassis was a necessity, as the original car was designed solely for racing and needed to be as light as possible due to the rather underpowered original, carbureted, engine, while still providing a high level of strength. This required the driver and any passengers to do some gymnastics to get in or out of the car, usually by sitting on and sliding across the wide door sill, which was kind of challenging for ladies wearing a skirt. A steering wheel with a tilt-away column made the process considerably easier became known as the "fat man's steering wheel".

It was Max Hoffman, Daimler-Benz's official importer in the USA, who convinced DBAG management in Stuttgart that a street version of the 300SL would be a commercial success, especially in the US. Hoffman's prediction was correct since more than 80% of the vehicle's total production of approximately 1400 units were sold in the US, making the Gullwing the first Mercedes-Benz which sold in bulk outside its home market. The 300SL is credited for changing the company's image in America from a manufacturer of solid, but staid, automobiles to that of a producer of sporty cars.

The body was mainly steel, except for the aluminium bonnet (hood), doors and boot (trunk) lid. The 300SL could also be ordered with an all-aluminium outer skin, saving 80 kg (176 lb), but at tremendous added cost.

The engine, canted at a fifty-degree angle to the left to allow for a lower hoodline, was the same 3.0 litre straight-6 as the regular four-door 300 but with a Bosch mechanical direct fuel injection system that almost doubled its original power of 86 kW (115 hp) in the original carbureted trim. This new injection system was a first in any gasoline-powered car - apart from the rather small Gutbrod where the Mercedes engineers, who had developed the principle for the DB 601 fighter aircraft engine, had to work after the war. It allowed a top speed of up to 260 km/h (161 mph) depending on gear ratio (several options were available) and drag (bumpers were optional, and race tyres fitted for tests), making the 300SL the fastest production car of its time. The maintenance requirements were high, unlike the current electrically powered fuel injection systems, the mechanical fuel pump would continue to inject gasoline into the engine during the interval between shutting off the ignition and the engine's coming to a stop; this gasoline was of course not burned, and washed the oil from the cylinder walls and ended up diluting the engine's lubricating oil, particularly if the engine was not driven hard enough nor long enough to reach a temperature high enough to evaporate it out of the oil.

Exacerbating the problem were the large oil cooler as well as the large volume of oil (10 liters), both oriented more to racing than to street driving, which virtually guaranteed that the oil would not reach a high enough temperature. In practice, many street drivers would block off airflow through the oil cooler, and the recommended oil change interval was 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Operation of the clutch was very heavy, many drivers would have a sore lower back the next day. The later roadster had an improved clutch arm helper spring which reduced the pedal force and, from March of 1963, a light alloy crankcase (209 built).

Aerodynamics played an important role in the car's speed. Mercedes-Benz engineers even went so far as to place horizontal "eyebrows" over the wheel openings. Given the car's overall styling, it has been suggested that the eyebrows were added to make the car more appealing to American buyers rather than to serve any functional purpose since American cars of the period were rather flamboyant by comparison to the 300SL. Unlike many cars of the 1950s, the steering was relatively precise and the four-wheel independent suspension allowed for a reasonably comfortable ride and markedly better overall handling. However, the rear swing axle, jointed only at the differential, not at the wheels themselves, could be treacherous at high speeds or on imperfect roads due to extreme changes in camber.

In the early 1970's the car was still in original condition and some time in the mid-1970's, the car was repainted from silver to red, and the interior was changed. It had a couple of different owners, and in 1989 was sold to Roy Warshawsky of Illinois, USA. He used the car for nearly ten years. Fran Roxas did a partial restoration from 1989 to 1991.

The engine and paint work was done to bring the car back up to top condition. In 1998 the car was sold to Michael Shaw, also of Illinois. He drove it for a year, then decided to have it completely restored. McCabe restoration of Mundelein, Illinois did the work, and when the car was finished it was entered in a Concours. The Como Inn of Lemont, Illinois held a show and the Gullwing took 3rd place out of ten 300SL's entered. Bill Jacobs of Illinois bought the car in late 1999 and used it very little. He sold it to The Imperial Palace Auto Collection in 2006.

At the time of these photos were taken, 5 November 2007, the price was $650,000.







The following photos were taken on 23 November 2006.

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