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The unique 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing coupe is scheduled to hit the auction block on April 1 at the Mecum Auctions sale in Glendale, Arizona.
Only 1,400 Gullwing coupes were built between 1954 and 1957, but only one looks like this. It is the only Gullwing to leave the factory in Mittelgrun (German for “medium green”) paint, which is also repeated on the dash.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in Mittelgrun (photo via Mecum Auctions)
According to the auction list, the green Gullwing was completed on April 30, 1955, and shipped to a Mercedes-Benz Distributor in New York. It was a US importer of Mercedes at the time and was owned by Max Hoffman, who was influential in bringing the 300SL to this country as a less violent derivative of the early SL race cars. The Gullwing doors originate from those race cars, which had a chassis design that did not allow conventional doors.
The car was purchased by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation in January 1973, and received a body-off restoration sometime in the early 2000s, the listing says. After restoration, it was displayed periodically at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum from 2015 to 2020.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in Mittelgrun (photo via Mecum Auctions)
While the interior was changed from gray leather to beige, the car retains the signature Mittelgrun paint finish and the original 3.0-liter fuel-injected inline-6 engine. It produces around 215 hp, which is sent to the rear wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission.
The Gullwing is expected to retail for between $1.8 million and $2.2 million, according to enthusiast website BenzInsider, and that’s not even close to the top price tag for either of these cars. One of the rarer aluminum-bodied Gullwings sold for nearly $7 million in 2022, and the low-mileage 300SL Roadster fetched $3.7 million at auction in 2018.
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