The gorgeous, iconoclastic Mercedes-Benz 300SL has been fetching upward of a million dollars in the classic-car marketplace for years now. But two examples that are being sold by Gooding & Company may challenge even those lofty valuations. The SLs are both completely original, unrestored examples owned by a single family since new. Set to be auctioned during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance festivities this August, these two Benzes—a 1955 SL Gullwing and a 1957 SL roadster—are sure to draw intense interest among collectors when they hit the Monterey auction block later this year in California.
Original-Owner 1950s Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and Roadster Headed to Auction
Original-Owner 1950s Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and Roadster Headed to Auction
Original-Owner 1950s Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and Roadster Headed to Auction
Original-Owner 1950s Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and Roadster Headed to Auction
Original-Owner 1950s Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing and Roadster Headed to Auction
Of the two, the Gullwing coupe is the more rare example, as its original owner requested it be specially painted in British Racing Green over a tan interior. It has about 16,000 miles on the odometer and has been in the same family since new, with no restoration or modification undertaken over its 60-plus-year lifetime. The 300SL roadster, purchased by the same family two years later, is equally stunning if a bit less distinctive in its Silver-Blue Metallic exterior and gray leather interior. It also comes with an original fitted luggage set. The roadster has seen a bit more use, with 38,000 miles on the clock, but it is entirely original and unrestored just like the coupe.
Gooding & Company currently estimates prices for the coupe between $1 million and $1.3 million, and the roadster between $800,000 and $1 million, so get your checkbooks ready and head to the Pebble Beach auctions in August if you want to nab one of what may be the last single-owner 300SLs extant.
