Once a legend, always a legend. A quote that happens to suite the Mercedes motorsport legend quite well. That’s right, most people may not know this, but the 300SL was originally a racecar that absolutely dominated the motorsport industry back in it’s day. This month, Gullwing turns 65 years old, so it’s only appropriate to honor this classic beauty and shine some light on the features and aspects that most readers probably wouldn’t be aware of. 

A timeless beauty, and a true Mercedes, the 300SL would usually come up in a debate of which manufacture produced the world’s first supercar. As petrolheads, we all have our own perspectives, but one thing is certain, the 300SL is definitely one of the first, if not the first supercar. And like every legend, this too, has a story that makes it one of a kind. The 300SL was never intended to be a road car, the sole purpose of it was to win races. The racecar version of it went by the name of the Mercedes W194, used for endurance racing at just about every racing circuit around the world and finishing on the podium at the 24 hours of Lemans and the challenging Nürburgring as well. 

The highlight of the W194 racecar was the design of the unique chassis that was a perfect example of maximum rigidity and lightweight engineering at its finest. However, the design hindered the possibility of the car to go with conventional doors, and hence, the iconic gullwing doors were born. Gaining quite a reputation, not only in terms of performance but also in terms of the astonishing gullwing doors, Max Hoffman, a supplier of luxury German vehicles in the United states identified a high demand for a road version of the W194, and hence, based on the W194 came the birth of the 300SL Gullwing. Perhaps this is what makes the 300SL such a legend, the fact that it came into existence based on a racing variant, and not the other way around like we see with modern-day supercars. 

So apart from this, what else makes the 300SL one of the first supercars? It all comes down to it’s performance. To put things into context, the W194 racecar came with about 175 horses, but the 300SL came with about 215 horses, 200 pound-ft of torque and maxed out at 135 mph. Now, when a road version of a championship-winning racecar comes with better performance than the racecar itself, there is no doubt that this should indeed be considered a supercar. There is no doubt then, that the owners of the 300SL felt the motorsport presence while driving their cars. For one, the car is required to meet a minimum oil temperature before it can go beyond 3000 revs, adding to this, the owners were asked to not let the car idle while the engine runs because the cockpit would heat up to an unbearable temperature. This meant that if the owners drove the car, they had to put its through it’s pace on the streets to keep things cool. Speaking of cooling, the iconic side grille behind the front wheels was built for the sole purpose of transporting all of the engine heat out the sides of the car rather than into the cockpit, a feature not seen on the original racecar.

Not only did the 300SL demand being pushed on the streets, it also demands the skills of handling a proper racecar. Being invented in a generation wherein the solution to body roll was still in the works, the 300SL would roll to a point at which the front wheels would lift off the ground at high speed corners, and the drum brakes had to be used very cleverly in order to take full control of the car. So, while most see this car as a beauty on the surface, you can be assured that it is quite the beast underneath that bodywork. 

Maybe this hasn’t come to immediate attention of petrolheads, but the 300SL actually laid out the basic foundation for future Mercedes sports cars. The Mercedes SLR McLaren for one, took the side grill used in the 300SL to make way for a more advanced cooling system. The SLS AMG too, followed the same long-hood design and overall body structure of the 300SL along with the same side grilles and of course, the gullwing doors. Placing the engine under a long hood, as done with the 300SL, is still seen in modern Mercedes AMG vehicles such as the concept GT, SL63 AMG and without any doubt, the entire AMG GT lineup. Whats really interesting is how this car was able to pave a path for development of modern AMG vehicles even after 65 years, while still looking quite astonishing. So, there is no doubt then, that this car is not only a beauty, but also quite a beast, which also happens the be the perfect recipe for a supercar. Weather this is the first supercar or not, it certainly is the first one of its kind.