Coys Auction
Fine Motorcars & The Jaguar Legend
Blenheim Palace
Woodstock
Oxfordshire OX20 1PX
Saturday 18th July 2009
Registration Number: EU registered Chassis Number: 19804210002723
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was conceived as a sports-racer rather than a sports car, first proving its mettle on the track before the production model appeared, and it went on to notch up an impressive number of competition successes. It all began with a small number of racing SL prototypes built in 1952 which won, amongst other great races, that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours and the marathon Carrera Panamericana. As the Stuttgart concern’s first post-war competition car the 300 SL combined suspension and running gear from the then new 300 series production models with a light, multi-tube spaceframe chassis carrying special coupé bodywork. Full-height side opening doors would have compromised rigidity in the high-sided chassis so half-height doors, hinged at the roof centre to lift upward, were devel