SOLD! $3.41 Million: 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing - Sells at AUCTION

Something different for you all today. I want to shine a light on one of the most beautiful cars you're most likely to see. The 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing. The reality is, this car is automotive royalty. When you do your top 10 list of greatest cars of all time, not only does this deserve a place, this easily stands a chance of being the number one car. It's just sold for a total price of sold for a total price of $3.41 million at Scottsdale Auction!

The restoration work that has gone into this beauty is incredible. You can learn more about that and the technical specifications on the lot description Here's a small window, 

The current owner acquired this Gullwing in 2020 and brought it back to 300SL restorer Coachwerks in Victoria, BC, Canada. Overall, the Gullwing was in very good condition but had obviously been unused for several years. Over the past 3 years Coachwerks completely disassembled and stripped down the body, chassis, engine and all mechanical components to perform a nut-and-bolt, frame-off, concours-quality restoration. Every mechanical component has been restored or replaced.

Barrett-Jackson produces The World's Greatest Collector Car Auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona and Palm Beach, Florida. (An interesting topic in itself for non-US folk. Mental note maybe a blog for another day). 

Craig Jackson the CEO of Barrett-Jackson spoke at the auction and here is some of his thoughts: 

'It drives beautifully, this is the original silver colour on it, they did add the rudge wheels and the fitted luggage. It has full leather, the cloth inserts, we've sold a lot of Gullwing's. I've owned three of them. This is the nicest, one I've ever seen. You stab the brakes it stops dead straight. It shifts. It runs beautifully. '

An average Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing sells for around $1.6 million according to Classic Magazine I bet this has put the average up considerably. 

Love Affair began

There is a moment in Cannonball Run 2 where a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing rolls up next to the a Countach. (See photo below). Unfortunately I can't find it streaming anywhere online so you'll just have to buy the blu ray I saw this movie on a loop as a kid and every car got on my wish list. 

Why are they so highly sought after? 

For a number of reasons. There are very few of these cars in circulation today. This is number 225 of 311 hand built 300 SL Gullwing coups. It has a Horsepower around 240 and a top speed of 160mph, which in 1956 was really something. The most intriguing thing about this car is it was developed from a race car. There was a lot of times when car manufacturers built something, then they'd go racing with it. 

In this case, Mercedes went racing with the 300sl and then they developed the street version afterwards. So this is a development of a true race car. And that’s the practical reason for the Gullwing doors. It's a race car with a tubular chassis, and the door frame is very high and wide because they needed to figure out a way for the drivers to get in.

The bottom of the door height was dictated by the chassis and the steering wheel tilts forward at the top for ingress and egress. Other cars you'll see mainly from this era would swipe right. 

Influences

Just take a look at the headlights, and compare those to what came out on the Corvettes years later in the 50s. Essentially everyone was copying this look.