Mercedes-Benz 300SL Sells for $4.62 Million at Auction
Original 1955-57 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL gullwings don’t tend to come up for sale very often, yet when they do they often attract a lot of attention and interest from big money collectors.
This past weekend’s Gooding & Company auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, was no exception, where one example fetched a cool $4.62 million.
Mercedes built some 1,400 Gullwing coupes before the car was succeeded by the heavier and slightly more conventional 300SL roadster, yet this particular car drew attention because it was one of a handful of aluminum bodied cars built (most SLs sported steel bodies with just the hood, doors and decklid made from aluminum).
The cost of the entire aluminum body was exorbitant, even by 1950s standards, which helps explain why so few SLs (29) were ordered this way, yet combined with some 176 lbs in weight savings, along with the direct fuel injected 3.0-liter straight six, the result was a fast and extremely desirable Grand Tourer (top speeds of more than 160 mph were easily possible).
The Gooding sale at Scottsdale marks a record for a classic Mercedes gullwing; most of these cars (though we’re refering to steel bodied examples) tend to go for around $500,000-$600,000, when they come up for sale.
[Source: Gooding & Company]
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