Page 22 - Kyalami Estates Issue 1 February 2024

Kyalami Estates Corporate Brand Bible Design 26
3.0 Folder (Inner)
MOTORING

EIGHT MERCEDES-BENZ 300SLS

AT 2024 OLD CAR SHOW

he biggest gathering of original that the SL display marked, almost to were both opened to receive the driver
Mercedes-Benz 300SL sports the day, the 70 anniversary of the and the passenger. But there was a lot
th
cars took place at the 2024 Mercedes-Benz 300SL. more to the 300SL that was trail-blazing
TGeorge Old Car Show on 10 and from an engineering perspective.
11 February. A total of eight of the nine THE 300SL - A MOTORSPORT
original series 300SLs residing in South HERITAGE HARKING BACK TO FIRST DIRECT-INJECTION
Africa were at the show, which is now in 1954 PETROL ENGINE
its 27 rendition in 2024. The original Mercedes-Benz 300SL The 3,0-litre straight-six overhead
th
premiered at a time of supreme camshaft engine was the first
These are the cars that earned the dominance in international motor racing production engine in the world to feature
300SL the title of “Sports Car of the by the Stuttgart-based manufacturer. direct petrol injection, nearly half a
Century” in 2009! Juan Manual Fangio scored two of his century before this practise became
Formula One world championships in popular in today’s production cars. The
“We were thrilled to have committed the Mercedes W196 Grand Prix machine engine was rated at 179 kW, and canted
entries of these magnificent cars,” in 1954 and 1955. Mercedes-Benz also over to one side to achieve the famous
says Waldo Scribante, chairman of the famously won the 1955 Mille Miglia low SL bonnet line. Also helping achieve
organising club, The Southern Cape in the hands of Stirling Moss, with its that low bonnet line was a dry-sump
Old Car Club, which has established 300SLR sports racer. lubrication system.
this show as the premier Western Cape
event for classic cars, over the past The road-going Mercedes-Benz 300SL, Depending on the rear axle ratio, the top
three decades. launched in coupé form at the New speed of the SL ranged between 235 and
York Auto Show in February 1954, was 263 km/h, making it the fastest production
Seven of the 300SLs were roadster car in the world in the mid-1950s.
versions, and for the first time, a derived from the first 300SL which
magnificent original Gullwing 300SL was built by Mercedes’ competitions THE MERCEDES-BENZ 300SL
department for the 1952 Carrera
Coupé joined the roadsters at the Panamericana, a tortuous 3 500 km ROADSTER
event. The Gullwing is presently the By 1956, sales of the Gullwing coupé
only one of these original SL series race run over dirt roads in Mexico. The had tapered off and Mercedes released
coupés in South Africa. “The sight of special triangulated, tubular space- the 300SL roadster version in 1957. It
this car joining seven roadster versions frame design of the chassis was largely featured the same mechanical layout as
carried over into the road-going version.
was awe-inspiring,” says Scribante, the coupé, but the side sections of the
who personally owns one of the most THE FAMOUS GULLWING chassis frame were modified to accept
comprehensive Mercedes-Benz classic MERCEDES 300SL conventional doors. Most roadsters
collections in South Africa. The heavy tubular chassis bracing along featured leather interiors to contrast

From the club’s point of view, he said the flanks of the competition-spec with the beautiful ivory of the steering
wheel, gear lever knob and stainless
300SL resulted in very high door sills,
that they were extremely honoured which made cockpit access difficult for steel dashboard insert. A hard top
to have eight of these ultra-rare and option was added soon after production
very valuable Mercedes sports cars the average person. So, Mercedes came began.
attending our show, and it pointed to up with the novel solution of extending
the door openings into the roof area,
the status that the George Old Car Show and hinging the doors so that they A striking feature of both the coupé
had in the classic car fraternity, all over and roadster is the small frontal area
the country. flipped upwards, instead of outwards. achieved by the low bonnet line and the
Daringly, this access system was carried cockpit that is narrow relative to the
What he found intriguing was that the over into the production 300SL coupés wings of the car. A distinctive feature
SL 300s entered for the show hailed built between 1954 and 1957. of the 300SL is the use of “eyebrows”
from many parts of the country. The above the wheel arches, said to deflect
cars arrived from as far afield as Thus, the racing DNA present in the rain away from the windscreen.
Johannesburg, Klerksdorp, Cape Town production coupé versions of the 300SL
and Paarl - while one of them was a resulted in the famous nickname of In total, some 1 400 Gullwing coupés
local machine owned and garaged in the car, the “Gullwing” as the doors and 1 858 roadsters were built between
George. Even more significant was resembled seagull wings when they 1954 and 1963.

20 Kyalami Estates • CONNECT • Issue 1 • 2024