300SL Mercedes Tyres
300SL Mercedes History
The Mercedes Benz 300SL is a two seat, sports car which was sold as a closed coupe with its amazing characteristic gullwing doors or as a beautiful open roadster.
These magnificent cars were built by Daimler-Benz and internally numbered W198, the road version of 1952 was based loosely on the company’s very successful competition only sports car the Mercedes Benz SL (W194) which had slightly less power due to still running on carburettors.
This model was suggested by Mr Max Hoffman and was aimed at customers whose preferences were reported to Hoffman by dealers he supplied in the booming, post war American market. It was introduced at the 1954 New York auto show – unlike previous models that were introduced at either Frankfurt or Geneva automobile shows.
The wonderful 300SL was best known for its Gullwing doors and for also being the first ever petrol powered car with fuel injection straight in to the combustion chamber. The fantastic Mercedes Benz Gullwing was available to buy from 1955 until 1957. In pure Mercedes Benz fashion the “300” was referring to the cars engine cylinder displacement, which in the Mercedes 300SL was 3 litres. The SL meant sport leicht or sport light.
The Mercedes Benz Gullwing got its nick name as the doors were hinged at the roof and when they opened the car took a pose much like a bird in flight. This allowed established engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut to design the tubular chassis to pass through what would usually be the lower half of the door!
