Ok here we go, So i grew up with my best friend Laura since we were just toddlers. To this day, we have always been close and last Friday we went to a dinner/dance at the Turnberry hotel in Scotland. Her family has always owned one of the two big houses right next door to the hotel and so we all met up (me and Laura live in Glasgow) for some drinks etc and a catch up. So anyway, her uncle arrives who is such a funny character, a real good laugh. He starts to take the pi55 out of my car etc etc and later over dinner he tells me he use to drive a Gullwing, i was like "sorry can you repeat that please?" Sure enough he use to drive a silver gullwing, it use to be his dads i.e. Lauras Grampa. I couldnt believe it! I'm not a huge fan of classics but the 300SL Gullwing definitely has to be one of those that I would be eager to own. Anyway, the story goes Lauras Grampa bought it from a seller in Ayrshire, somewhere near Turnberry many many years ago. The grampa passed away and her uncle kept it until 1994 when he decided to put it into auction in London. The Mercedes people from Germany came over and the car was bought by them and i believe taken back to Stuttgart? Anyway, the car was silver with a blue tartan interior, could that be right? He has sent me various information on the car itself which i wont be able to pick up til Friday/Saturday so i'll keep you informed and hopefully be able to post some pictures. A couple of questions: 1. Does anyone know of a Gullwing in the Stuttgart museum? If so, could it be this one? 2. What would have been the value of such a car in 1994? 3. What is the current value in todays market? 4. How many were produced? My friend Laura takes no interest in cars and doesnt know anything about it, doesnt care really, saying that she did shriek a tad when i told her what they were roughly worth today! Just goes to show that these iconic cars can be a lot closer to your life than you think. I was best friends with her when her Grampa owned the car and never knew anything about it!!! Regards, Matthew
2a. My guess would be around 150,000-175,000 back in 1994. 3a. I think 450,000 to 500,000 for the value today. 4a. Around 1,400 were made.
seems very doubtful but at the Mercedes centre at Brooklands they have a prototype of the Gullwing, same interior color too... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Mercedes factory has a lot of Gullwings. One is in the Mercedes museum and many others are stored in buildings around Stuttgart. Here are some pics from the museum. The one with red interior is a street car and the other one a racecar. Martin Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
ha, if they had the "racecar" version then they would have been on a goldmine, theres only 2 of those in the world 300SLR, it was pretty much an F1 car for the road, the engineer drove it daily and there were 2 versions the red interior and blue interior one. that car itself was never raced either, only for private use, modelled after the 300SLR roadster that moss drove in the Milli Migla (sp?)
Thanks for the information guys. i cant believe so many were made! The spec of the prototype must be similar to what he said was in his dads car. Paul has sent me photos of it and a feature of it in a car magazine back in the nineties when he still owned it but i wont get them until Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to scan and post the pics etc. I'm not a big fan of classics but the Gullwing has always been a car i love due to it being unique from the rest.
On July 30, 1994, this silver Mercedes 300SL was sold at Coys Auction in England. From the report in Classic & Sportscar, October 1994: "A superb 25,000 miles Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing, previously owned by the British War Department to evaluate Bosch fuel injection, made top money. No doubt the new owner, the Mercedes museum at Stuttgart will proudly remind visitors of the original purchaser." Image Unavailable, Please Login
I very much doubt the one sold in 1994 was one of the two 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupés, because I believe those two never left Mercedes-Benz ownership as we both know that the whole SLR-for-the-road project was scrapped.
Yes - both SLR Uhlenhaut cars (my favorite car ever made any year, any marque) remained with the factory from what I read - a bit too hairy to let out of captivity as they were both running development cars and a bit raw. There were also 300 SL racing cars pre-dating and a bit different from the street version (no bumpers, rounder and carburreted - similar to the prototype photo shown) but I believe these are all well accounted for as well. I feel pretty sure the car in question was a straight up street 300 SL, a spectacular car in its own right; a car so brilliant and so flawed (swing-axle rear suspension) that is still the ultimate classic car. Interestingly, we can thank American importer Max Hoffman, for without him the street version may have never been made... Thanks for all of the photos!!
Yeah , correct. A few were made with Ally body, while a least one was made with a plastic body (used by then MB designer Paul Braq)
Jeff, thats amazing. I've sent him the picture to confirm it was his but i reckon it is. Great find!!! Cheers, Matthew
Thats the one I love most. The 300SL. One recently sold here to an overseas collector for AU$730K. Looked sweet in the pics I saw.
I absolutely love GUllwing 300SLs. It's one of those 'if I ever have the money' cars for me. Theres a few for sale here: http://www.paulrussell.com/ And one is coming up for auction at Coys in about 10 days time: http://www.coys.co.uk/auctions/lot.php?auction=59&id=43952
talk about reviving an old thread: at one of my fav. places to eat McArthur's Place, Saddles, were some of the 62+ real 300 SL Gullwings, and Spiders, in Sonoma for their rally. Took some at the place. Talked to the owner of the red coupe which his dad purchased new, and is now his [father passed away]. The others...stunning in person. VERY nice. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Red Spy/ider : AND oh, yes, behind the driver's side door is my 456 GT Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Red Coupe, from Oregon. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
They're coming out with a new one in a couple years. I viewed the prototype. Its a 500+ HP car coming in at 3400#'s!
I must say the new/prototype looks like another keeper. Not every car is perfectly flawless in a line of two, so, their new rendition is good enough.
Of the cars I've driven, the 300 SL gullwing was the biggest disappointment. Maybe I expected too much given its' reputation and fame, but I thought it was a truck. I was able to immediately compare it to a 250MM (0334MM), and the Ferrari was a much more satisfying ride. The one thing where the gullwing excelled was going to the pump: open the boot, realease the cap and one could easily drop the whole handle of the rig inside the tank, such was the size of the hole.
This is bothering me....where is the gas go ! every picture i look at I never see a gas cap or a a gas door. so whats the deal on this car.. I never really thought about it until I was having a discussion on filler spots on sport cars and now this. Are there any pics of this ?
Coupe was in the trunk and Roadster was under an external flap on the left rear fender. Can see just a piece of it in picture in post 18.
'captured' at the California Mille this summer when they came through Tahoe...not even positive they are gullwings...could be 190SL?..not my area of expertise... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
