There are rare moments in history in which an automobile manufacturer builds a car that is set to become a legend. With Mercedes-Benz, this was the 300SL. Based on the brand’s successful racecars and encouraged by car importer Max Hoffman, the iconic ‘gullwing’ coupe made its debut in the New York Auto Show in Feburary 1954, instantly becoming a success amongst the rich and the famous. Characters of the likes of Clark Gable, Paul Newman, Briggs Cunningham, Juan Manuel Peron, Sophia Loren, Pablo Picasso or Juan Manuel Fangio would be some of the celebrities at the wheel of their own 300SL’s.

Of the 3258 units produced, 1400 would be Gullwings (29 of them alloy-bodied), while the remaining 1858 of them being open-top roadsters. The 300SL has the honour of being the first production car to have standard fuel injection, an advancement that gained it its reputation as a ‘racecar for the street’ versus its carbureted contemporaries.