Mercedes Benz 300SL

The Story of the 300 SL, by Miguel Caparros. It is not often that you run into a show condition Mercedes 300 SL at a local car show in Georgia, this is the second time I ran into this car at a small event. The owners of this car have the means to afford their fantasy car and enjoy being with the local crowd instead of the slightly more formal venues these cars are normally seen in. With only 1400 cars made it is a rare beast. The 220 HP car was the fastest street production car of its time, with a top speed of 161 mph, this car is still fast 56 years later. It is the lines of this car that takes your breath away. Strongly influenced by the factory race cars from 1952 and 53 and suggested by American Importer Max Hoffman (I am sure Max primed the financial pump too) Mercedes did a masterful job building the first supper car of the modern era. Max’s instincts were right a lot in the 50’s and he created a market in the United States for this car. Fully 80% of all the 1400 were sold in the S