Coys Auction - True Greats
Royal Horticultural Halls
Elverton St
Westminster
London SW1
Tuesday 7 December 2010
It is something of a tribute to the speed and strength of the post-war German ‘economic miracle’ that only nine years elapsed between the end of WWII and the introduction of what was certainly one of the most sophisticated cars of the 1950s. The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was conceived as a sports-racer rather than a sports car, first seen in competition in 300SLR form before the production model 300SL appeared; it went on to notch up an impressive number of competition successes beginning with a small number of racing SLR prototypes in 1952 in that year's Le Mans 24 Hours, and then in the marathon Carrera Panamericana. The production version came with a six-cylinder 3 litre instead of the straight 8, but carried over an amazing technical specification for the time. It combined suspension and running gear from the then new 300 series production models with an amazingly light, multi