300SL Gull-wing Dream cars through the ages • Most successful sports car in 1950' s • From racing circuit to standard product line • Innovative tubular frame body structure with ‘gull-wing' doors • State-of-the-art technologies • Stylish upholstery • Most exciting driving experience June 9, 2004, Beijing On June 15, 1951, the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz reached a decision which was to have far-reaching implications: Mercedes cars would return to the racing circuits of the world. This proved to be a sound move, since as well as providing the Mercedes-Benz brand with two Formula 1 world championship titles in the nineteen-fifties, it was also the foundation of a continuing fascination: the legend of the SL. Very few combinations of letters have achieved the charismatic appeal of the name "SL" - actually conceived simply as an abbreviation for "sporty" and "light". These two letters today represent the authentication of a unique Mercedes tradition and vouchsafe the continuation of a living, pulsating legend. Although - due to cost implications and shortage of time - only the W 186 saloon (the famous "three hundred") had been available as the technical basis, the Mercedes sports car was successful right from the start. Rudolf Uhlenhaut, who had given vital impetus to the 300 SL project, was to remember later "We took the standard engine from the 300 and built a tubular frame and aluminium body around it." The concept proved a good one and, in 1952, an SL was already second across the finishing line of the famous Mille Miglia rally. But the true charisma of the two letters really became apparent later that same year, when the 300 SL took part in the Carrera Panamericana. The magnificent double victory of Karl Kling and his co-driver Hans Klenk and Hermann Lang and Erwin Grupp in this notorious long-distance race made the gullwing coupé the focus of attention, once and for all, especially after the 300 SL had been fastest in Berne, at the Le Mans 24 Hours and on the Nürburgring all in the same year. Impetus from the US Despite its success on the racing circuit, the 300 SL as a road-going sports car - and thus as the nucleus of all SLs - was almost never built. However, from the US came a message from an Austrian gentleman, Max Hoffmann, still known even today by the nickname of "Maxie", who wanted to buy from Daimler-Benz cars that didn't exist. This brilliant salesman, with a real sense for trends and what might become such, was convinced that he could sell 1000 road-going versions of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL on the North American continent. After all, the sports car had become famous over the other side of the "pond" as well, thanks to its racing successes. Hoffman's arguments soon convinced the Stuttgart company's Board of Management and the road-going version of the 300 SL was thus revealed to the public gaze at the international motor show in New York on February 6, 1954. Direct petrol injection for 210 hp of power The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was not just an object of popularity and respect: for many it represented, quite simply, the epitome of the modern sports car. 215 hp from an engine displacement of three litres and a, for those times, incredible top speed of over 250 km/h - depending on the rear axle ratio - served to prove its true sporting ancestry. Dr. Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the "father" of the SL, made it quite clear when he said, "Feel free to consider the SL models as sports cars - as long as the emphasis is on Sport." The 300 SL was, to its core, a high-tech product in the innovative tradition of Mercedes-Benz. From the basic straight six-cylinder engine of the saloon, which produced just 115 horsepower, the racing engineers had bred a high-performance unit. To get it up initially to 210 hp at 5760 rpm, they developed for the very first time a direct petrol injection system for a series model with a four-stroke engine. The injection jets were positioned in the upper part of the cylinder wall where, in a normal 300 engine, the spark plugs would be located. In the SL engine, these were moved to the side of the cylinder head. The crankshaft of the six-cylinder unit, with 2996 cubic centimetres engine displacement resulting from a stroke of 85 millimetres and a bore of 88 millimetres, was supported by seven bearings. Bodywork engineering based on aircraft construction An even greater technical sensation was caused by the tubular frame; a principle derived from aircraft construction. The intricate construction, which experts welded together by hand from individual, fine steel tubes, was light and yet rigid. Efforts to make the frame as sturdy as possible in the original coupé version resulted in a very high sill which left no room for normal doors. This more or less inevitably gave rise to another spectacular innovation that was to become the hallmark of the 300 SL: its gull-wing doors. However, when it came to the Roadster, the engineers redesigned the tubular frame construction, by lowering it in the door area, to make getting in and out easier and to increase the boot space. The idea behind the open-top car had been from the start, after all, to offer a sporty tourer or luxury convertible. A further prominent feature of the SL models of the nineteen-fifties were the crescent-shaped protrusions over the wheels, which gave the SL such a striking appearance. These were originally designed to protect the sides of the vehicles from dirt and damage from loose chippings and were hence officially known as "splash shields". The Mercedes engineers also improved the Roadster in other important points. For example, it was given a new single-joint swing axle with a lower pivot point and compensating spring, which was superior to the original double-joint axle and was less demanding on drivers driving at the limits of stability. From 1961 onwards, Mercedes-Benz fitted disk brakes to all four wheels of the SL Roadster. The American motoring magazine "Road & Track" advised its readers with regard to the 300 SL Roadster "When a comfortable interior is matched by remarkably good vehicle handling, with wheels that grip in what can only be described as an incredible fashion, with light and precise steering and with performance that is as good as, if not better than, any car so far built, then there's only one thing left to say: the sports car of the future has arrived!" |