Mercedes-Benz 300SL

The launch of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL at the 1954 International Motor Sports Show in New York was a milestone in the history of the marque. Originally conceived in 1952 as a means of restoring the company's pre-war reputation as a major force in Grand Prix racing, the luxuriantly graceful 'Gull Wing' coupé transformed the image of Mercedes-Benz, especially in the United States.

Production of the Gullwing coupé lasted only until 1957, by which time some 1,400 had been produced – a tiny number for such an influential car. It was replaced by the 300SL Roadster, a convertible version with essentially the same body shape but conventional doors and a hard-top option. Both models had 6-cylinder 3-litre engines and were aimed primarily at the North American market. Daimler-Benz ceased production of the Roadster in 1963.

Spectacularly beautiful, the low streaking shape of the 300SL is also spectacularly German. It looks nothing like a classic British sports car, with their tighter lines, nor an Italian sports car, more compact and angular. As to be expected, the car was also spectacularly engineered, with an innovative tubular steel 'space-frame' body (dubbed "Sport Leicht": SL) and fuel-injection, both features being derived from aircraft construction methods developed during the war.

The 190SL, a tamer version of the 300SL, was introduced in 1955. More widely produced (over 25,000 units) it had a smaller 4-cylinder engine and was available only as a roadster with a hardtop option.

The Gullwing doors of the 300SL coupé, and other design features

It was the space-frame construction of the car's body which led to the unusual vertically opening driver and passenger doors for which the 300SL coupé is now so famous. There was no traditional chassis, independent of the body. Instead, to reduce weight, the body itself formed the structure of the car, which for stiffness required deep truss sections running either side of the passenger compartment. This resulted in very high sills and inadequate space for conventional doors. The door openings thus extended into the roof and the only feasible position for hinges was in the centre of the roof itself, with the doors opening vertically, resembling gull wings when fully open.

The Gullwing door concept required the full weight of the open doors to be supported entirely in the centre of the roof. This is why the roof corner pillars were placed well inboard of the outer lines of the car, to reduce the structural moments in key areas of the body's space-frame. The resulting pinched dimensions for the cockpit produced a smaller canopy in relation to the car overall and contributed an essential part of the 300SL 'look'.

The 300SL is also defined by its long low bonnet, requiring the engine cylinders to be tilted sideways to fit beneath it (reducing the footwell space on the passenger side). Other features of doubtful practical value helped to accentuate the sleek, dynamic look: the pronounced eyebrow-like splash shields protruding over the wheel arches and the stylised air vents towards the rear of the front wings, decorated with chromed streaks which on some variants extended back over part of the doors.

Immediately above the sill was a wide chromed trim extending between the wheel arches and giving a vague impression of linking the car's front and rear bumpers. All these elements come together in a localised composition (inset) that has become as much a trademark of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL as has the shape of the car itself.

The performance of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL(R)

Despite initial concerns over the modest power output of the engine, the racing 300SL (inset) performed well in its first year of competition. In May 1952 Karl Kling drove one into 2nd place in the Mille Miglia, a 1,000 (Roman) mile long endurance race on the open road 'there and back' between Rome and Brescia. This was followed by a 1-2-3 at the Grand Prix de Berne (a supporting race for the Swiss Grand Prix) and in June the first two places in the Le Mans 24-hour race with cars driven by (i) Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess and (ii) Theo Helfrich and Norbert Niedermayer. A slightly revised 300SL took the top places at the Nürburgring sports car race in August, and in November Gullwing coupés finished first and second in another endurance race, the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico (one being driven by Karl Kling).

Almost from a standing start, Mercedes-Benz was back in big time motor racing. The low weight and aerodynamic shape of the 300SL, together with good reliability, compensated for its modestly powered 175 bhp engine. But at the end of the year, having proved its point, Daimler-Benz temporarily dropped out of works racing and turned their sights on a new Grand Prix race car for the 1954 season.

The 300SL might have dropped out altogether but for Daimler-Benz's importer in the USA, Max Hoffman. Daimler-Benz were initially reluctant to put the car into production because they saw its purpose as purely to restore the racing credentials of Mercedes-Benz, but Hoffman convinced the company that there was a US market for a street car in the image of the racing 300SL coupé.

He was of course correct. The 300SL was flamboyant, and big, which suited North American tastes. Following its success at the New York Auto Show the car's design team led by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, head of race car development at Daimler-Benz, revised the engine to increase its power output to 240 bhp because the production car would be significantly heavier than the race version. The result was the world's fastest production car of the time, and its launch marked the first introduction of the European performance sports car to the US market.

Road & Track magazine wrote that the 300SL had "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" although it had a few vices too. There was a degree of understeer and body-roll round tight corners, and some drivers complained that the car's light steering at speed did not give enough 'feedback', but it was fast, stylish, and comfortable.

The 1955 works race car was the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR in which the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio won five of seven Formula One Grands Prix and Stirling Moss won the Mille Miglia. Unfortunately that year's Le Mans 24-hour race was marred by a spectacular crash in which a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR driven by Pierre Levegh struck an Austin Healey and crashed into the crowd, killing Levegh and over 80 spectators. For safety reasons the race was allowed to continue but Mercedes decided to withdraw its two remaining cars and later in the year withdrew indefinitely from motor racing.

The SL series: later developments

The Mercedes-Benz 230SL superceded the 300SL and 190SL in 1963. It had a larger more powerful engine and a removable hard-top whose distinctive profile led to the 230SL being nicknamed "Pagoda", but in truth it was a much less idiosyncratic car than the 300SL. Predictably, it was hugely popular amongst Hollywood celebrities, pop stars, and business magnates. It was manufactured until 1971.

During the 1970s and 80s the third generation SL line of 'boulevard cruisers' marched forth in a sequence of successful models: 350SL, 380SL, 450SL, and 560SL, and by 1989 nearly 240,000 SL sports cars had been sold. The fourth generation launched in 1989 included a number of extra safety features, including a recessed roll bar that deployed itself in 1/3 of a second when it 'sensed' danger, leading to (probably justified) claims by Mercedes-Benz that it was the safest sports car in the world.

Then came the 500SL with a fully-automatic convertible top in 1990 and a fully-automatic retractable hardtop in 2002, and needless to say, throughout these years the SL has been bestowed with the latest engine technology available to Mercedes-Benz. The SL 'sports car' line retains its status as a truly luxurious and prestigious vehicle, and demand continues to outstrip supply, but of course it has long-since ceased to bear any relation to the original 300SL.

[ March 31st, 2006 ]