Born out of the 1952 Le Mans and Carrera Panamerica-winning car, the 300SL Gullwing is one of those icons which is more fun to look at than it is to own.
The chrome-molybdenum space-frame chassis hid most of the components from the upright and uptight 300 saloon, though the engine was tilted over to give a low bonnet line, dry sumped and fuel-injected to give between 215bhp and 240bhp.
Most of the 1,400 built had steel bodies, although 29 were built with aluminium coachwork. Those top-hinged "gullwing" doors made the car, but they also leaked and made it impossible to... (More...)
