Mercedes 300SL Gullwing seen in Dublin

AJ!

Yesterday in Rathfarnham I saw a Merc 300SL Gullwing!

As it was coming towards me I thought it was just an everyday vintage Merc but as it got closer I noticed that the front of it really resembled a 300SL. Sure enough as it drove by me I got a look at the side grille and those unmistakable doors!

The car was a silver or grey colour. The registration number was '55 KK 21'. I'm not sure where it's from. I didn't know there were any of these in Ireland. Has anyone else seen this or any other Gullwings?

mike65

Wrong forum!

Mike.

coolcon

mmm. nice. Ive always wanted to see one in the flesh (or metal!).

1275gt

:eek: i was only talking to a guy at lunch about seeing a gullwing earlier in the year. drove down the quays past us (dublin city centre). sounded strangely like a V8 under the hood tho


was it kinda greenish silver in colour??

AJ!

1275gt wrote:

was it kinda greenish silver in colour??

No, it was a shade of silver or grey. Defenitely wasn't green at all.

MercMad

Yes there are at least three in the Country, private collections and rarely seen. That one from Kilkenny, one from Wexford and another in Dublin !

The 300SL is quite a loud throaty car, very vocal, even my early 230SL with the tubular manifold and stainless pipes gets mistaken for a V8 by the uninitiated occasionaly !

MercMad

Oooops actually I think the Wexford one is a Roadster now that I think about it, very dark grey in colour, much nicer than the Gullwing IMO !

Wishbone Ash

AJ! wrote:

The registration number was '55 KK 21'. I'm not sure where it's from.

Kilkenny?

AJ!

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Kilkenny?

Yeah! Sorry, I never copped on to that. The plates were black and they didn't look Irish but now that I've seen it spelt out it makes sense:rolleyes:

1275gt

MercMad wrote:

Yes there are at least three in the Country, private collections and rarely seen. That one from Kilkenny, one from Wexford and another in Dublin !

The 300SL is quite a loud throaty car, very vocal, even my early 230SL with the tubular manifold and stainless pipes gets mistaken for a V8 by the uninitiated occasionaly !

what are they? straight sixes?? coz it defo didnt sound like a six. gorgeous gorgeous sound tho

any pics of the one you used to have??

green-blood

yep, straight 6, one of the world's first fuel injected road cars and I think they had desmo valve gear

its a proper rad going version of the mega impressive 300SLR which famously won the mille miglia with Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson in 55 - if you ever get to read "Jenks" report on that race savour it, its gotta be the ultimate piece of motor racing journalism

anyway, they have a swing axle rear suspension system which can jack the car if it gets too muc sideways slip... very dangerous.

great to see one used on the road

junkyard

I saw that 300SLR at last years Mile Miglia and its final outing at Goodwood Festival of Speed last year. I've seen at least four 300SL Gullwing Mercs in Ireland. I know one man who has two of them, one of which I have done some bodywork to. All the ones I've seen were on Swiss or German plates.

green-blood

useless trivia, the numbers on a Mille Miglia racer are the time it set off on the 1000 mile route, that way spectators could easily work out who was leading, the smaller glass cars (500cc fiats and autobianchis) set off at rediculous hours of the morning and would drive for 22 hours just to finish

Moss and Jenkinson used an early type of pace notes to win, obviously not being Italian they didnt have the local knowledge of the Farinas and Villoresis of the world. It was constructed like 2 scrolls in a metal box with a glass window, which Jenks scrolled thru to highlight landmarks they had spotted during recce.... it worked a treat and they very nearly managed to hit the 100MPH average they were looking for, in the end they still hold the record

green-blood

yes, I am a nerd

1275gt

good man brian

MercMad

its a proper rad going version of the mega impressive 300SLR which famously won the mille miglia with Stirling Moss and Dennis Jenkinson in 55 - if you ever get to read "Jenks" report on that race savour it, its gotta be the ultimate piece of motor racing journalism

............beautiful Cars indeed, although the SLR's were straight 8 cylinders, not like the road cars. there were 2 roadgoing Coupe's made, with Gullwing doors, both owned by the factory and refered to as Uhlenhaut Coupe's after their R&D expert Rudi Uhlenhaut!
http://www.supercars.de/data/mercedes-benz/1955300%20slr%20uhlenhaut%

green-blood

nerd...

MercMad

Call yourself an expert .....................?

MercMan Ben

Uhlenhaut was a great engineer who always tested his products himself. He drove his Coupe every day to work and got in trouble with his neighbors because of the noise the car made every morning :-)

MercMad

MercMan Ben wrote:

Uhlenhaut was a great engineer who always tested his products himself. He drove his Coupe every day to work and got in trouble with his neighbors because of the noise the car made every morning :-)

...........yeah great story ! Nice perks with that job ehh ?

Blue850

He also gave Erich Waxenberger the go ahead to build the 300SEL 6.3, my favourite car ever.

MercMad

He sure did !

Lovely car.............we had a really nice one on our stand yesterday. Of course at the end they had to ensure the limited slip diff was working !! Heh heh :eek: