It is in the practice of carmakers to release a road car before a racing version. Although this trend is reversed from time to time, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL was plucked from a sports racing family.
It had won the 1952 Le Mans and was brought to the market in 1954 participating and winning the Carrera Panamericana. The road car version still brought with it lots of gifts from the racing family.
It had a tubular frame that was strong enough to stand almost any road. Add this to the stylish gull-wing doors and a stand-alone suspension. It carried a 3.0litre engine capable of pulling 215hp.
It did 160 mph with so much ease. It was the fastest production car in its ripe days with a four-speed manual transmission as the only option.
There was also an option to tune the engine and even add up Rudge knock-off wheels. However, there were 29 aluminum coupes produced that became the most desired off all.
They were not only beautiful but also expensive retailing at $9,000. Remember this was between 1954 and 1957, having only 1,400 of these pieces built created quite a buzz.
The world of motoring remains one of the fields that survive on continuous reinvention. From time to time though, there come our way pieces of work that we cannot fail to take note of and admire for a long time. The Mercedes Benz 300SL remains one of them.
Image Source: Pixabay
