Someone Paid a Fortune for This 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, Will Need a Forklift

1 month, 3 weeks ago - 30 October 2024, autoevolution

It is rare, one of less than 30 ever made. It sports an eye-catching design, turning every single head in the house when those gullwing doors spring open. It screams performance since it was a race car for the street. Those factors explain why this 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing sold for $9,335,000 at the latest RM Sotheby's auction.

The aluminum-body Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing is one of the rarest cars out there. Mercedes only built 1,400 Gullwings between 1954 and 1957, but only 29 of them featured the special aluminum body. And the one we have right here is number 26 of the 29 ever made.

The car rolled off the production line in 1956, painted black over a red leather interior. The model was originally ordered by legendary Ferrari importer and LeMans champion, Luigi Chinetti. He kept it for 20 years. In 1976, he sold it to Rudi Klein. Since he purchased it, it never got out of Klein's "yard" on its own wheels. As a matter of fact, it did not go anywhere, on its wheels or on a trailer.

The Mercedes was repainted to silver at some point, but it was never restored. It has everything else original: the interior, the matching-numbers engine, the transmission, and the steering box are those that it drove through the Unterturkheim factory gate with, 68 years ago, all numbered and correlating to the data card.

Building an aluminum-body Mercedes took a lot of time and money. So, the automaker only kept it in production for 12 months, rolling out just 29 such cars. This one, chassis number 198.043.5500872, was completed on January 12, 1956. It was the first car completed that year.

The data card recorded the features this car comes with: it has a windshield washer system, the NSL engine, sports suspension, Rudge wheels, the special-order Schwartz paint, and a 3.42:1 rear axle ratio.

Its first owner, Chinetti, reportedly ordered the Benz to compare it to his Ferrari stock at the time. That was quite an expensive move. Luigi Chinetti met Rudi Klein at the 1976 Daytona 500. They made the deal on the spot, so Klein paid $30,000 and was supposed to go home with the Gullwing.

But letters from the era show that the car was not collected from Chinetti until early March 1977. At the time, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing was already silver. Rudi noted that the car "sound [with] no damage. Equipment on car includes radio, spare, etc. and knock-offs."

Once it arrived in the Klein Collection, which also included a 1957 300 SL Roadster, it was tucked away inside the central building of the junkyard, and that was where it remained until it was on display at the RM Sotheby's Monterey auction this year. It lacks a few parts, which were sold off. The list of lacking parts includes the front bumper, the shift knob, the tool kit, and the spare wheel.

Furthermore, the prominent dent at the rear stands proof of the only collision the car was involved in. Sometime in 1981, Rudi apparently reversed into the Gullwing with his forklift.

The car shows up in the photos sitting tilted on two flat tires, with the clock showing 73,387 kilometers (45,600 miles). With all the flaws and missing parts, someone fell in love with it. The sole example delivered in black has just sold for $9,335,000.