Driving a 1955
Mercedes-Benz
300 SL Coupe
By Daniel Strohl
Yes, it took something on the level of circus
acrobat flexibility to get in and out of the
300 SL Coupe. Once you’ve avoided bleed-
ing your nose with the gullwing door, the
best way to enter is to place your rump
on the tall sill, then slide into the seat and
(here’s the tricky part) try to fold your legs
in without scuffing the leather upholstery.
Easier said than done.
De Wayne, the owner of our featured 300
SL, stands five-foot-eight, and doesn’t seem
to have much of a problem. Our humble
road tester, at six-foot-one, decided to take
origami lessons before entering another 300
SL. Though the surgical shortening of legs is
also an option. And would be worth it, too.
The German reputation for precision
applies everywhere. The doors shut with
a solid thunk. The fatman-style tilt steer-
ing wheel latched with security. The shifter
clicked into and out of gear like flipping a
switch. Ergonomically, the only drawback is
the dash-mounted rearview mirror, the only
mirror on the car, and one unable to show
you much of what’s behind you.
But who needs to see where you’ve been?
This car is about going places, and is more
than eager to take you there. Not at a slow
pace, either: This is not a car for cruising
around residential neighborhoods at 30
MPH. In fact, to maintain a slow speed, you
pretty much need to keep your foot hovering over the brake pedal. Stab the throttle,
and the power comes at you linearly instead
of precipitously, like a lone bison stampeding across an open plain. Handling: superb.
Brakes: decent.
At the end of the drive, you realize how
far superior this car is to any of its contemporaries. You don’t want to get out, partly
because you know you haven’t come close to
exploring the car’s limits, and partly because
you haven’t yet taken that origami class.
and Company in Essex, Massachusetts,
says, “The rule of thumb is that you want
to buy the best car that you can afford.
It’s better to buy one that is in excellent
condition and maintain it, than to buy
one that needs everything. To do a 300 SL
Gullwing’s body-off, every last nut and
bolt restoration these days by a knowledgeable restorer costs about $400,000.
I’ve sold two in this past year for between
$700,000 and $800,000. Today, you can’t
find them in any condition for much
less than $400,000, so while you won’t be
upside down after a restoration, it’s not
something you do to make money on.”
John R. Olson, a 25-year market analyst
and the editor of the SL Market Letters,
adds, “With a footprint as prominent as
that of the 300 SL’s, we might expect the
car to eclipse recessions. A few high-profile 3 00 SL auction sales occur annually,
to the delight of owners, but they also
learn that owning a ‘flagship’ M-B, especially the 300 SL, is the equivalent of having money in three or four currencies at
the same time; if the dollar is down, the
euro, pound or another currency is up.
This is the silver lining for 300 SLs, as it
is for Ferraris and Bugattis, and the best
art and antiques.
“ 300 SL values did falter a bit from
1992 to 1997, and they may do the same
again now, but as our owner’s survey
confirmed, these cars are ‘keepers.’ It’s
hard to see where values aren’t keeping up for long-term owners, even when
major restorations are conducted. With
unequalled parts support by Mercedes-Benz and two excellent owner support
groups (including Germany’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Club e.V.), the 300 SL has
to be one of the greatest ‘old car experiences’ on the planet—assuming the
little matter of sufficient wherewithal to
join the party.”
BODY/FRAME
Alex shares his techniques for inspecting
a W 198-chassis SL Coupe: “Door, hood
and deck lid fits are critical on Gullwings.
If you see a car that’s been through the
mill, the gaps will be all over the place;
it’s very hard to maintain a consistent
gap on those doors, because they literally
curve in every direction. If you find a car
that has even gaps, you can be pretty sure
that it has led a good life.
“The nose of this car is a little proud of
the headlamps, and that’s an area where
a lot of them have been tapped, even
lightly, and this energy would transfer
to the inner bulkhead behind the nose. I
look for wrinkling or accident damage in
there. I then pull the headlamps out and
look into the [inner fender] cavity below
the headlamps, as that area is very prone
to rust. There is a drain hole there, and if
that hole becomes clogged, it will fill with
water and rust from the inside out.
“Looking inside the engine compartment, just below and in back of the oil
tank and in back of the electrical panel,
you can see if there is rust in the rocker
rail. This is the boxed section that runs
from the front wheelhouse to the rear
wheelhouse, and is where the aluminum
rocker trim mounts. If you can see that
these sections are solid, you can be sure
you’ve got a good car. If it’s rusted out,
you have an indication that you should
look harder at the rest of the car, because
it will be rusty in many other places.
“Then I pull out the spare wheel and
the trunk mat, and check that area for
rust down in the left and right quarters.
If a car has taken a hit in the rear, body
shops would usually fix the exterior
sheetmetal and bumper, but wouldn’t
fix the trunk floor. Any buckling in the
trunk floor is usually a sign that it’s been
poorly repaired.
“The frames are very solid; in my 35-
year career, I’ve only seen one that was
really rusted out and one that was really
damaged, but even both of those were fixable by properly replacing the tubes.”
We’ve turned to Mike Kunz, the
manager at the Irvine, California-based
Mercedes-Benz Classic Center to get the
inside line on factory parts availability
for these 50-plus-year-old icons. “For the
most part, the 300 SL is just as easy to
supply parts for as any other post-war
Mercedes-Benz. As with most of our
cars, it’s almost easier to tell what we
can’t get, compared to what we can. In
short, the parts availability for these
models is quite excellent. While we can’t
claim that any of the sheetmetal panels
are inexpensive, given the value of a
properly restored car using OEM parts,
they are reasonably priced. Mechanical
parts for a 300 SL are reasonable by any
comparison. All of the 300 SL Coupe
sheetmetal is still available; in fact, we
have a brand new hood in our inventory
in Irvine.”
ENGINE
“When I look at a car for a customer, I first
check the chassis and engine number to
make sure that the engine is original to
the car, and is not a re-stamp,” Alex notes;
the chassis plate can be found on the firewall, while the engine number is stamped
on the right side of the cylinder block.
