The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was conceived initially as a purpose-built racing sports car (W 194). In 1952, the coupe notched up an impressive record of success in the year?s major races.
The car that reestablished Mercedes-Benz as a formidable power in sportscar racing after World War 2 was the exotic 300 SL. It started out as a thoroughbred road racing car in 1952 and ended its era as an extremely fast convertible for the very wealthy in 1963. The 300 SL made an impressive impact on car enthusiasts everywhere, so much so that there has been an SL model in the Mercedes range ever since. Although all succeeding Mercedes SL models are sporty, special and much loved, not one of them was able to live up to its famous ancestor in terms of originality, styling and extreme engineering. It's time that RitzSite takes you on a tour to show you this wonderful sportscar icon.
At the Grand Prix in Bern the 300 SL sealed a clean sweep of the podium places, an awesome performance backed up by a one-two finish ahead of a stunned field in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Nürburgring duly yielded another one-two-three, and the new Mercedes racing sports car also claimed victory in the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico. It all added up to a majestic return to motor sport for Mercedes-Benz, picking up where the brand had left off during a highly successful period before the Second World War. One of the greatest sports cars ever made, the 300SL introduced fuel-injection to production automobiles. Enough to earn everlasting distinction, perhaps, yet the 300SL's signature gullwing doors set it apart from the competition in a different way. 
The Stuttgart-based brand unveiled its new sports car in February 1954 at the International Motor Sports Show in New York, and in so doing lit the fuse for an icon of the automotive world. With its flat, graceful body, the 300 SL had lost nothing of its freshness even as the millennium drew to a close. The history of the 300 SL is inextricably linked with the life of an influential admirer. American importer Maximilian E. Hoffman it was who urged Mercedes-Benz to build a road car in the image of its racing coupe, the start of production in 1954 providing a sweet fruit for his endeavors. The assembly lines may have waved goodbye to the last of the only 1,400 units of the 300 SL coupe ever made in 1957, but the spirit of this extraordinary car most certainly lives on.
The two models were due to celebrate their premieres less than six months after the Board had granted the project their approval. The occasion was the International Motor Sports 
Show taking place in New York from February 6 ?14, 1954 and at the time America?s most important auto show. The engineers rose to the challenge of their race against the clock, and the 300 SL and its smaller brother, the 190 SL, were ready to receive the acclaim of the admiring crowds. Series production began in Sindelfingen in August 1954 and the price was fixed at 29,000 Marks ? a quite enormous sum at the time, especially when you compared the new model alongside the Mercedes-Benz 170 Vb ? on sale at 7,900 Marks.
The racing genes of the 300 SL tempted renowned racing drivers and privateers from all over the world to enter sports car races and rallies. The 300 SL made its first appearances in the popular racing events of the time in 1955 . The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL attained legendary status well before the assembly lines ground to a halt, thanks in part to its success in race competition but most of all to the captivating allure of its stunning design. The 300 SL has been counted among the world's most sought-after and highly rated cars for 50 years now, and its status as one of the most revered classic automobiles on the market is set to remain intact for quite some time to come.
The new sports car was a real crowd-puller, thanks in no small measure to its wonderfully charismatic ?gullwing? doors. Rather than serving merely as a stylistic gimmick, they represented the central element of the 300 SL design, the ultimate example of necessity as the mother of invention. The response of the engineers was to devise an upwards-opening door concept. The elegance of the car?s side view remained undisturbed by a door handle, with a discreet pull-out bar disengaging the lock. The door then opened upwards with the help of a telescopic spring. The tubular frame for the 300 SL, designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, reduced weight to a minimum but provided maximum strength. In the standard SL the frame tipped the scales at only 82 kilograms, whilst the complete car in ready-to-drive condition and including the spare wheel, tools and fuel weighed in at 1,295 kilograms.
The six-cylinder engine featured a number of modifications, one of which saw the carburetor replaced by a direction injection system ? a technical advance which was years ahead of its time. This new technology boosted output to 158 kW (215 hp) and the car?s maximum speed up as far as 260 km/h, depending on the rear axle ratio. Customers could order their SL with a choice of five different ratios. The standard 1:3.64 variant was set up primarily to deliver rapid acceleration and capable of 235 km/h. The 1:3.89 and 1:4.11 ratios were good for even faster acceleration, whilst the 1:3.42 option offered a higher top speed. This figure rose still further ? to 260 km/h ? when the ratio was set at 1:3.25. However, this ?resulted in greatly reduced acceleration, making the car less enjoyable to drive in downtown city traffic,? as the sales information pointed out. The 300 SL hit 100 km/h in just 10 seconds, with car testers at the time measuring fuel consumption at an average of 15 liters per 100 km.