The Mercedes-Benz 300SL holds a prominent place in the temple of automotive gods. Its design, racing provenance, and sheer performance made it an icon of its time, with a presence that has persisted through the years. Of course, given this backstory, you would expect 300SLs to hold an equally worthy price tag; you would be right.
This is one of them
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Bring a Trailer is now offering you the chance to own one of these unicorns, if your wallet can afford it. This 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, chassis 5500733, is one of 1,400 Gullwing coupe examples built during the model’s three years of production. It was reportedly built in September 1955 for delivery in the US through the Port of New York. In 1978, the car was sold by its Arizona owner to a California collector, where it remained for over four decades. During the collector’s ownership, the 300SL was painted silver, and its 3.0-liter M198 inline-six, replacement four-speed manual transmission, and brake system were overhauled by Marx Mercedes Service in Costa Mesa, California, in 2007. The car was bought by its current owner about a year ago and underwent yet another refresh, a body seal replacement, and a 2024 repaint in its original shade of white (color code DB050).
teamcj/Bring a Trailer
The interior carries one of the most tremendous color schemes I have ever seen on a car: red leather with Ulster Tartan plaid cloth over the seat cushions and matching carpeting. Not only is it a perfect contrast to the white exterior, but come on, it’s plaid! The odometer also shows a mere 39,000 miles, approximately 23 of which were added by the current owner.
Final thoughts
teamcj/Bring a Trailer
It’s unfortunate that this example’s story from 1955 to 1978 seems to have been lost to time. It would have been incredible to know who its original owner was and what led them to decide on a 300SL. According to a period article from Sports Car Illustrated, now Car & Driver, the $8,000. That converts to around $94,058 in today’s money, which is no small sum. The low mileage and overall sorted nature of this example should allow its future owner to enjoy all of the 215 horses under the hood while looking distinctively dapper at any car show they attend.
With six days left in the auction and a current bid of $1,215,000, buying this German steed will do some serious damage to anyone’s bank account. Boy, is it worth it, though.
