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Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale

Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt after yet another year of frantic classic car market activity, it’s that unrestored ‘preservation’ cars are most definitely ‘in’. What better way, then, of joining the fun than by bidding on a DB180 Silver 300SL that has just rolled out of a garage after more than 20 years of storage?

So far, in 2011, two significant 300SL Roadsters have come to auction, both sold by Gooding & Company in the USA. The first was at Scottsdale in January, where a low-mileage (just 7367 from new) car billed as a ‘time-warp’ machine in the catalogue eventually sold for an impressive $951,500. The second was (inevitably) at Pebble Beach in August when $962,500 bought a 1960 car.

Both came complete with hardtops, as does Coys’ 1958 example, estimated at £225,000 – 275,000.

Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale

This car, ‘3 DXC’, chassis 198042 8500299, was supplied new to the United States, as was the case with the majority of Roadsters. Just four years later it was first registered in the UK and Coys’ catalogue states that the V5 licence form confirms only three previous owners, the most recent being an Edinburgh businessman.

Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale
Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale

Along the way, the US-specification headlamps have been swapped for the more aesthetically pleasing European ones and it has lost its fabric hood. But, with original engine, red leather interior and two sets of keys, the stylish convertible is remarkably complete. A little over 13,000 miles is recorded on the odometer.

Amazing 'barn-find' 300SL Roadster to feature in Coys' December sale

The car is one of 68 to be offered at Coys' Christmas ‘True Greats’ sale in London on 7 December. You can read a preview of the sale elsewhere on Classic driver, and view all cars in the Classic Driver Marketplace.

Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Coys



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