1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL

The name of Mercedes-Benz is synonymous with the heritage of the motorcar, and the company has over the decades produced some of the finest examples of sporting machinery. Early forays into the competition world led to the production of some of the fastest touring cars of their day and an involvement with technical development that was unsurpassed. The post-war years saw the continued development associated with the Mercedes-Benz name, and, with the reintroduction of sports cars into the range, in 1952 the legendary 300 SL was born – a year in which it proved itself victorious at LeMans. First produced as a fixed-head coupe with gullwing doors, the 215 bhp, fuel-injected, dry sump engine provided the car with a ready following. The later development of a roadster on the spaceframe chassis offered an open alternative to the gullwing coupe, and was unrivalled at a time when there was nothing else available on the market with the same exhilarating performance,...