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grober
MB Master
Always thought that the "legendary" 300SL sports car falsely basked in the glory of the competition record of this car's SLR open sports relative 
- the one that Stirling Moss won the Mille Miglia [ 1000 MILES] in. As mentioned in the video this was essentially a road going F1 car.
AND
- the one that Stirling Moss won the Mille Miglia [ 1000 MILES] in. As mentioned in the video this was essentially a road going F1 car.
AND
tron
Active Member
The 300SL was so much faster than anything else you could buy that this createda large part of the legend. The Uhlenhaut coupe has an even more legendary status and never raced at all!
Nobody would suggest that it doesn't deserve it so I think you are being a little unfair to the Gullwing. It isn't a 300SLR but with its looks and performance, it never had to be.
It was a useable, civilised and reliable road car which the SLR could not have been.
Nobody would suggest that it doesn't deserve it so I think you are being a little unfair to the Gullwing. It isn't a 300SLR but with its looks and performance, it never had to be.
It was a useable, civilised and reliable road car which the SLR could not have been.
grober
MB Master
Indeed the [W198] 300SL was a very desirable/ fast car in its day, certainly wouldn't deny that. Its just that Mercedes traded a bit on the competition success of the W194 [ 24 Hours of Le Mans, Bern-Bremgarten, the Eifelrennen at Nürburgring, and Mexico's Carrera Panamericana.] and W 196S [ Mille Miglia,Tourist Trophy at Dundrod, a 1-2 at the Targa Florio , the 1955 World Sportscar Championship. etc etc] to sell the cars in the USA, a bit like they clapped AMG badges on some of their more "sporting" versions of their mainstream models recently. In other words unlike their true AMG models there are MB cars sporting the AMG badge in name only.
That said the 300SL did incorporate elements of the racers designs the spaceframe chassis the fuel injected 6 cylinder engine etc so I guess it can be forgiven. Bit like the E type was a refined version of the Le Mans winning D type Jaguar.
Its just that Mercedes traded a bit on the competition success of the W194 [ 24 Hours of Le Mans, Bern-Bremgarten, the Eifelrennen at Nürburgring, and Mexico's Carrera Panamericana.] and W 196S [ Mille Miglia,Tourist Trophy at Dundrod, a 1-2 at the Targa Florio , the 1955 World Sportscar Championship. etc etc] to sell the cars in the USA, a bit like they clapped AMG badges on some of their more "sporting" versions of their mainstream models recently. In other words unlike their true AMG models there are MB cars sporting the AMG badge in name only.That said the 300SL did incorporate elements of the racers designs the spaceframe chassis the fuel injected 6 cylinder engine etc so I guess it can be forgiven. Bit like the E type was a refined version of the Le Mans winning D type Jaguar.
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There was a lot of trading on the reputation of previous models .
The W196 was an out and out racing car , originally a single seater with open wheels , then latterly two seater streamlined bodywork .
From that the W196S was derived , with the 2.5L engine from the earlier cars enlarged to 3 litre , but still a straight 8 .
By this time , Max Hoffman had persuaded MB to make a sporting road car based on the race cars , and the 300SL W198 was born , using components from production cars , mainly the 300 series Adenauer saloons , built on a space frame chassis and with a body echoing the style of the race cars .
Thanks to fuel injection , which Daimler-Benz had led the way with during the war for aero engines , these cars out performed the competition , and the legend was born .
After the disastrous crash in 1955 which caused Mercedes-Benz to withdraw from racing , Uhlenhaut acquired a couple of uncompleted SLR's and made two of these coupes . One he took as his personal car , and this is the one which survives ; the fate of the other one is unknown .
The W196 was an out and out racing car , originally a single seater with open wheels , then latterly two seater streamlined bodywork .
From that the W196S was derived , with the 2.5L engine from the earlier cars enlarged to 3 litre , but still a straight 8 .
By this time , Max Hoffman had persuaded MB to make a sporting road car based on the race cars , and the 300SL W198 was born , using components from production cars , mainly the 300 series Adenauer saloons , built on a space frame chassis and with a body echoing the style of the race cars .
Thanks to fuel injection , which Daimler-Benz had led the way with during the war for aero engines , these cars out performed the competition , and the legend was born .
After the disastrous crash in 1955 which caused Mercedes-Benz to withdraw from racing , Uhlenhaut acquired a couple of uncompleted SLR's and made two of these coupes . One he took as his personal car , and this is the one which survives ; the fate of the other one is unknown .
