24 Mercedes-Benz 300SL “Gullwing
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL was introduced in 1954 as a two-seat, closed sports car with distinctive gull-wing doors. Later it was offered as an open roadster. It was the fastest production car of its day. One of the greatest Car of its era, this baby still remain well known for its innovative gull-wing doors and intelligent use of aerodynamics. This was the Race Car for the Street. This Car was Fast and in Demand.
Design: The racing W194 300SL was built around a tubular chassis to offset its relatively underpowered carbureted engine. Designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the metal skeleton saved weight while still providing a high level of strength. Its unique architecture gave birth to the model’s distinctive gull wing doors, as part of the chassis passed through what would be the lower half of a standard door. Even with the upward opening doors, the 300SL had an unusually high sill, making entry and exit from the car’s cockpit problematic. A steering wheel with a tilt-away column was added to improve driver access. The 300SL’s body was mainly steel, except for the aluminum hood, doors and trunk lid. It could also be ordered with an all-aluminium outer skin at tremendous added cost, saving 80 kg (176 lb).
Performance: The 300SL was best known for both its distinctive gull wing doors and being the first-ever gasoline-powered car equipped with fuel injection directly into the combustion chamber. The 300SL’s engine, canted at a fifty-degree angle to the left to allow for a lower hood line, was the same 3.0 litre straight-6 as the regular four-door 300. Fitted with a Bosch mechanical direct fuel injection system it had almost double the power of the original 86 kW (115 hp) carbureted version. The Power figure was 215 PS (212 hp/158 kW) and 274 N•m (202 lb•ft) of Torque. The Fuel Injection into the combustion chamber allowed a top speed of up to 260 km/h (161 mph) depending on gear ratio and drag, making the 300SL the fastest production car of its time.
Chick Factor: Medium. Although Girls just admire the classic styling and no more, this original Vertical Door Car remains much coveted till date. A pair of 300SLs for sale in 2009 are offered at $1.3M USD from the Foxwood Collection, demonstrating that the price of and demand for this classic remains strong.
