No Mercedes-Benz has ever been as famous as this car – the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL can go down in history as the originator of the gullwing. Now, the brand's legendary model celebrates its 70th birthday. Next, let's take a look back at this automotive superstar from the 50s of the 20th century!
From February 6 to 14, 1954, Mercedes-Benz presented two new sports cars to the world at the International Motor Sports Show held in New York, USA. The appearance of two cars, the 300 SL supercar (W198) and the 190 SL compact sports car (W121), excited the public.
Both are American Mercedes-Benz businessman Maximilian E. Hoffmannhoffman).
The 300 SL with its characteristic "gullwing" doors is derived from the 1952 race car of the same name (W194).
When it was launched in 1954, it became one of the most iconic sports cars of the 20th century.
In fact, as early as two years ago, Mercedes already had a 300 SL.
On March 12, 1952, Mercedes-Benz introduced the 300 SL (W194), a pure race car. Since having it, the brand has won four of the five races of the season that year: the Bern sports car race (three wins) and the Nürburgring (four wins), the 24 Hours of Le Mans (double wins) and the third edition of the Carrera Pan American Race in Mexico (double wins). In the first race at that time, the Mille Miglia, the car finished second and fourth.
The prototype of the W194 11 was built for the 1953 season. In 1954 and 1955, an improved version (W196 R) and a racing car (W196 S) were introduced, respectively. In 2013, the W196 R, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio to multiple victories, sold for $29,600,000** at auction at Goodwood, when it was the most expensive German car sold on the auction market.
Because the W194 itself is already very mature, it is almost impossible to continue to reduce weight, especially in the engine and transmission sections. Because the steel axles of the 300 make the body very heavy, this means that weight reduction can only be done on the body frame.
Therefore, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, then head of passenger car testing at Daimler-Benz, came up with his idea for a lightweight tubular body frame, which he had been working on several years earlier. After testing, Mercedes-Benz's designers turned the idea into reality. The result is a lighter, torsion-resistant tubular lattice body frame, which is made up of very thin tubes in a triangular shape, and the tubular elements can withstand extreme twisting forces and have excellent elasticity and elasticity to ensure safety in the car.
It is worth noting that the tubular lattice body frame weighs only 50 kilograms, which makes the W194 even more powerful. The new race car weighed more than anyone expected, with the 300 S weighing around 1,780 kg and the 300 SL (W194) weighing just 1,100 kg.
To further improve performance, get even more speeds. During the test, Uhlenhaut tilted the relatively tall six-cylinder inline engine 50 degrees to the left, further reducing the engine's height by using dry tank lubrication, resulting in a lower bonnet.
In fact, the "gullwing" door design, which was praised by later generations, was not the original intention of the designer.
Such a door can be considered a necessity. In order to provide greater stability to the tubular body frame, the crossmembers were designed in such a way that the "threshold" for access to the cabin had to be as wide as possible, which is why conventional doors could not be installed at all. The engineers simply devised a concept of a door that opens upwards. The door axle is mounted on the roof and opens upwards with the help of telescopic springs, and the "gullwing" door is born. This design that opens upwards is reminiscent of outstretched wings, which is why the car is called "gull wings" by the Americans and "papillon" (butterfly) by the French.
The driver and passengers can get into the car faster, thus giving the car a more maneuverable advantage on the track.
Nowadays, you see the 300 SL open the door and enter the parking lot at the classic car show, and the door opens upwards very stylishly, of course, it is possible that this operation is not for the sake of attracting attention, because this handsome coupe is not equipped with air conditioning in order to reduce weight, and can only open the door to cool down in the summer.
Let's talk about the 300 SLR "Uhlenhaut Coupé", a car developed for the 1956 season, originally built with nine W196 300 SLR Silver Arrow Formula 1 chassis, two of which were converted into cars for the Carrera Panamericana race.
The two coupes look completely different from the 300 SL Gullwing (W194), with wider bodies and unique styling, powered by the engine of the W196 F1 car, an eight-cylinder engine with a displacement of 25 liters increased to 30 liters, the maximum output reaches 305 hp, which is 90 hp more than the regular 300SL.
However, just before the Uhlenhaut Coupes were to start racing, Mercedes-Benz suffered a devastating accident at Le Mans in 1955, when a 300SLR car crashed at high speed during the race, killing 84 people and injuring more than 120 others, including driver Pierre Levegh.
Because the production plan for the 300 SLR Coupe was completely shelved. Motorsport supervisor Rudolf Uhlenhaut kept one of the cars for everyday use, which served as test vehicles for the test department, which was eventually named the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe. Later, both sports cars came into official ownership, except for one that was on public display in a museum, and the other, which was hidden in one of the 11 mysterious warehouses at Mercedes-Benz headquarters, was stored with dozens of Formula 1 cars and countless prototypes. It is said that outsiders cannot bring any modern electronic equipment into these warehouses.
Both Uhlenhaut coupes are essentially identical in appearance and have been kept in very original condition.
Around May 6, 2022, Mercedes-Benz officially held an intimate appreciation event at its museum. After the appreciation event, the vehicle with chassis number 0008 55 was named 1€3.5 billion ** sold.
Well, moving on to the 300 SL, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W194) went from a racing car to a production car, the name of the model is still 300 SL, but the model number has become W198.
Because it had just undergone the baptism of war, German industry was slowly recovering. The Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG made a bold decision to commit American businessman Maximilian Hoffmann on September 5, 1953 to supply a small and a large sports car for the New York International Auto Show, which began on February 6, 1954. For car companies, this is a very brave operation, knowing that both cars did not exist at that time.
Mercedes-Benz engineers used the body of the 300 SL (W194) with a racing engine developed in the 1953 season. Development went very well, as the chassis and tubular lattice frame had been proven in numerous races in 1952. Such racing genes are also destined to make this new product have excellent dynamic performance.
However, there is still a lot of development work to be done beyond that. For example, there is a need for a body that is more suitable for everyday use, better driving comfort and better driving safety. In addition to the air conditioning system, the car lacked any form of soundproofing material due to weight reduction.
Racers at the time generally chose to wear earplugs to block out the noise from the gearbox and engine, but this was completely unacceptable to the wealthy who spent a lot of money on top-of-the-line sports cars.
In addition, production vehicles also need to provide reasonable luggage space. In fact, this great balancing act between Daimler-Benz's demands and Maximilian Hoffmann's demands ultimately succeeded. From today's point of view, this is still no small miracle.
Karl-Heinz G Schel, the chief engineer at the time, was in charge of building the engine, knowing that the four-stroke engine was still in its infancy and was only suitable for everyday use. When asked by reporters how he managed to achieve such a great achievement, he said dryly: "We work day and night and do not have time for meetings. ”
The applause of the people speaks for itself.
In February 1954, the all-new 300 SL (W198) received thunderous applause in New York. Both mechanical technology and car enthusiasts were delighted by the appearance of this car, and Bosch's latest mechanical high-pressure fuel injection system was unveiled for the first time in a production car, and it was matched by a supercar with such a beautiful shape and gullwing lines, even Daimler-Benz did not expect to create such a car.
It was a sports car and a racing car, but it was also a large gran turismo that could compete with any Italian or British car in its class, and the car quickly became a sensation in the mid-50s of the 20th century after its debut.
It is worth mentioning that the world's first production model equipped with a four-stroke gasoline engine with in-cylinder direct injection technology was the Mercedes-Benz 300SL that first appeared in 1955, this 3The 0-liter inline-six engine, which uses a mechanical gasoline direct injection system supplied by Bosch, has a maximum power of 220 hp, a peak torque of 294 Nm, and a top speed of up to 162 mph (260 km h), 90-62 mph acceleration in 3 seconds.
The 300 SL was known as the "German rocket", and at a time when family cars were generally running at speeds of around 100 km/h, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL became a veritable "supercar".
It was the fastest production car at the time, and it was almost twice as high as the same displacement gasoline engine that was commonly used with carburetors at the time! Fuel consumption has also been reduced by about 10%.
Unlike modern precision electronic fuel injection systems, the 300SL uses a mechanical fuel injection pump that continuously dispenses fuel between engine ignition and shutdown. This creates a problem, as the extra fuel injected dilutes the oil film that protects the engine, and over time it thinners the oil, which increases wear on the piston rings and cylinder walls, so the 300SL has an oil drain interval of only 1,600 km.
However, the shrewd car dealer Maximilian Hoffmann made some mistakes in one thing.
He initially wanted the 300 SL to come in the form of a convertible, and three years after the coupe's debut, the sports car appeared. However, perhaps because of the "gullwing" doors, consumers continued to pursue the coupé model, and this is still the case today.
In August 1954, just six months after the show, the first production version of the 300SL rolled off the assembly line at the Sindelfingen plant in Germany, marking the birth of the first generation of the 300SL (W198).
The price of the 300SL was as high as 29,000 marks, which was equivalent to a detached villa in those days, and you know, the price of the Volkswagen Beetle car at that time was 3,950 marks. Such a ** also made it the most expensive German car of the year.
Within 17 months of its release, Mercedes-Benz sold 996 Gullwings, of which 850 went to the United States, accounting for 85% of production in 1954 and 1955.
Due to the tubular body frame, production was discontinued in 1957, and only 1,400 Mercedes 300 SL Coupés with gullwing doors were produced. Today, these cars are worth well over 1 million euros.
In the same year after the cessation of production of gullwing doors, Mercedes-Benz launched a convertible version of the 300SL, and at the same time optimized and upgraded the whole vehicle. The headlights have been changed from a round shape to a vertical rectangular shape, and the rear wheel suspension has been improved. However, thanks to the advent of the convertible version, the classic gullwing design has been completely said goodbye to the traditional door opening and closing design.
Later, due to the high manufacturing cost and the additional funds brought by the dealers to train engineers for maintenance in the later stage, coupled with the continuous decline in sales in the later period. In 1963, the Mercedes-Benz board of directors decided to officially discontinue the production of this model, although the Germans did not know at the time how great the car would be decades later.
According to the famous German automotive publication Auto Motor und Sport, "Mercedes-Benz 300SL is the most elegant and at the same time the most inspired racing car of our time – it's the dream of the car".
Renowned car writer Ken Gross wrote in a book: "My first memories of the 300SL Gullwing date back to SCCA's Beverley Airport Race in 1956. Masten Gregory, Jim Kimberly, Carroll Shelby and other drivers did well, but I was amazed by a rich man off the track. At that time, he drove a silver 300slgullwing, driving slowly through the crowd, the gullwing door opened up, and a pair of long legs stretched out from inside, and in the car was his white-skinned, beautiful, and hot girlfriend. Decades have passed, and now I can hear the murmur of the 300SL exhaust pipe and the laughter of that beautiful woman when I close my eyes. ”