Gullwing 300 SL found

[saforwardlook]

Chrysler fixed their "dowdy" looks in '55, and as far as the MB being "stunning",well all I can say to that is, that's why they paint cars different colors, because IMO those things are butt-ugly. Regarding the gull wing doors, and them being "far ahead of the Americans" the MB cost over 3 times more than a '54 New Yorker Deluxe, you know, production cars. Unlike the MB that was made for those evil 1 percenters. And having some experience with German engineering, I would be utterly shocked if the gull wing doors still "worked nice" on an average UNRESTORED car that was stored and treated like your average '54 Chrysler(if you could find one), actually I would be amazed if the doors worked at all.

I liked the 1955 forward look cars too, but they still look out of place today. That gullwing, when restored, would look contemporary even today. Chrysler had some Ghia show cars during that timeframe too, but designed and built in Italy more than here in the U.S. that were also expensive and well done. But they didn't have features such as the gull wing doors. I give credit where it is due, not just bang the brand loyalty drum all the time. Is there a 1954 or 1955 Chrysler anything that will fetch $1.5 million today? As I said, there is a reason it is valued in the stratosphere.

As for a gullwing with doors couldn't operated nice, I guess you didn't watch the video before putting your comments out there then?

 

[mr. fix it]

The person who commissioned that had to go into hiding when it made it's public debut.

 

[65 500]

I liked the 1955 forward look cars too, but they still look out of place today. That gullwing, when restored, would look contemporary even today. Chrysler had some Ghia show cars during that timeframe too, but designed and built in Italy more than here in the U.S. that were also expensive and well done. But they didn't have features such as the gull wing doors. I give credit where it is due, not just bang the brand loyalty drum all the time. Is there a 1954 or 1955 Chrysler anything that will fetch $1.5 million today? As I said, there is a reason it is valued in the stratosphere.

As for a gullwing with doors couldn't operated nice, I guess you didn't watch the video before putting your comments out there then?

I didn't watch the video, but I did read the description where it said it has been disassembled since the mid '50's, and stored inside since then. So it was on the road maybe 3 years, with maybe 30k miles, I would hope that the doors still open. They also said that "the suspension looks to have failed completely", quality...

As for the cars selling for $1.5 million, you're right that there is a reason that they sell for that much, but it's not because they are an engineering marvel, although the gull wing doors probably have a lot to do with it, but they are just a novelty. If you like them that's great, get ya a couple of them. You sure won't have to worry about me driving the prices of them up, I wouldn't own one at any price.

 

[cm23uoc]

This was actually a race car put into production derived from the earlier W194 full fledged works racers.

The gull wing doors were not meant as a novelty but a necessety to enter the car due to the high built space Frame (an Engineering marvel in itself which only weighed about 180 Pounds, the SL Designation stood for super lightweight) underneath the Body which was rather unaltered from the W194, that also used this door design due to the Frame, they changed it partially with the Roadster to make entrance more comfortable with an ordinary door design and to create trunk space resulting in a weight penalty, by that watering down the original concept. The shape of the hull for the gullwing SL was also only slightly altered from the original race car and by that was not shaped for novelty but aerodynamic reasons and low Center of gravity with an optimal weight distribution. Of course a low production race car could not be built at low cost or in high numbers in the first place and can not be compared to an ordinary high Performance road car.

It was the first four stoke engine production car with direct mechanical fuel injection and put out 215 hp net with a displacement of about 183 cu.in., (while the early Chrysler 300s 1 hp gross per cu.in. Ratio was considered sensational). It had Independent front and rear suspension, the aerodynamically advanced design resulted in a top Speed of up to 162 mph with the numerically lowest rear axle Ratio in 1954. The car also had a highly advanced power drum brake System to sustain such Speed, they went to four wheel discs with the Roadster late in the production run, while a Buick Riviera of that vintage for example could not be braked down once from 120 mph without noticible fading.

So this of course is a Milestone car in the field of sports cars no matter what Country it came from like a Ford GT 40 to Name a comparable US/GB co- creation, while it can be taken for granted that the vast majority of buyers did not even scratch the surface of the real potential of this car's possibilities but misused it as a Boulevard cruiser then and now.

Still race heritage is of course one contributing factor for Prices as the SL finished in all of the important and most challenging European and South American Long distance races in the highest ranks and also including a SCCA Championship in 1957 with a certain Mr. Shelby on a Maserati finishing second.

And let's not Forget this race car Derivative would not be in existence without the US market where 70 % of production went, the car was requested by influential MB importer Maxie Hoffmann, who was responsible for a couple other highly sought after cars and the car was even first presented in a Sports car Show in New York.
European buyers still fighting with aftereffects of WWII were far and in between and would have never justified production.

 

[Big_John]

The mechanical fuel injection is supposed to be a real work of art, but very complicated and not a lot of people in the world that can work on them and set them up right. The owners are willing to spend big $$$ for rebuilding and PM type servicing.

I found this out one very crazy day at Carlisle some years ago... I was talking to some guys about car appraising of all things. They were professional appraisers and extremely knowledgeable about everything automotive. Very interesting folks.... I was working at the time, our business being test equipment calibration. This piqued the interest of one of the guys and we ended up talking about this injection rebuild/service. Seems there's a lot of flow matching and adjustment in getting them right. Lot's of electro-mechanical controls and solenoids are involved.... He referred to the control unit as the "black box".

One older gentleman who did most the injectors was getting close to retiring and he had all the setup to do the work and of course, the knowledge. Long story short, I was offered a deal that involved them buying him out and us taking over where he left and doing the work. This sounded pretty cool... and quite frankly, I was confidant we could do the work. There would be things to work out and learn, but yea, we could do that. He said everyone else that he had talked to didn't have a clue about any of the things we discussed.

I kicked around the idea for a bit, but it was far enough out of our core business that it didn't make sense for us to look into it any further.

 

[Dan Scully]

Hey I have a flat hammered beetle.

 

[cm23uoc]

The good old Kübel or the Thing. There is one even more awkward VW of that era that was designed nearly exclusively for the German and Swiss federal postal departments, Typ 147 nicknamed Fridolin. Wonder if any of These found their way to the US by Import of any US car nuts.

 

[Dan Scully]

A few of those in So Cal.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

I think these cars are gorgeous. What I don't get is why a car built in 54' would be stripped to be painted in the mid 50's as stated in the article.

"According to Warner, the car was stripped of its original paint in the mid 1950s and given a coat of primer, but never repainted.

Maybe they were scared to drive it or be seen in it after the LeMans Disaster.

 

[LocuMob]

The good old Kübel or the Thing. There is one even more awkward VW of that era that was designed nearly exclusively for the German and Swiss federal postal departments, Typ 147 nicknamed Fridolin. Wonder if any of These found their way to the US by Import of any US car nuts.

View attachment 186352

I need one of those!

 

[65 500]

I need one of those!

If I was unfortunate enough to own one of those, you would be welcome to it.

 

[pomonamissel]

a friends dad collected them when he was in high school , has 5 of them , 3 are being restored now . 1 is done 2 more to go . and his son says when dad dies there all for sale . he'd rather have a modern one . there is beauty in the eye of the beholder at work again , lol .

 

[LocuMob]

a friends dad collected them when he was in high school , has 5 of them , 3 are being restored now . 1 is done 2 more to go . and his son says when dad dies there all for sale . he'd rather have a modern one . there is beauty in the eye of the beholder at work again , lol .

There was one I saw when I quickly checked google, went for $25000!