Mercedes 300 SL
Mercedes-Benz 300SL was considered a luxury car during its day. It was first introduced in the year 1954 with two seats and a closed door with its unique gull-wing style. It was the first sports car to ever offer a stylistic door. However, even if the gull-wing door style was really a beauty, not all people liked it and so the manufacturer, Daimler-Benz AG, introduced another version of it as a roadster taking away the gull-wing style doors. It was suggested firmly by Max Hoffman. In the point of view of the Mercedes-Benz company, the 300 used to describe its model means it has a three-liter cylinder displacement and the SL is an acronym for “Sport Leicht” or Sport Light.
Among car enthusiast and technical owners, the 300SL was famous to be the first to have the fuel injection which runs directly into the combustion chamber and powered by gasoline. But among the car fashion-lovers, it was known because of its gull wing doors when popped open; it really resembles a soaring sea gull with its doors. However, the company had only given two years of production for 300SL gull wing to give way to the fast-rising street version of the 300SL.
As suggested by Max Hoffman, the official importer of Mercedes-Benz to the United States of America, the 300SL has become the favorite of the American street racers thus, boosting the sales of up to 125% making the production faster to accommodate the needs of the public. 300SL sold more than 1400 units in the United States making it the first Mercedes-Benz to sell in higher bulk even outside its home market. Thus, confirming the suggestion of Max Hoffman. But not only that, it was during that time that the image of Mercedes-Benz was in good shape in America. And since then, the name denotes a high quality, stylistic and elegant cars.
Being the first car to have the fuel injected directly into the cylinder, engineers didn’t stop until they have made the first DB 601 engine, an aircraft engine to ever put in a car for racing. The innovative invention of the engineers can allow the speed of up to 161 mph which was the fastest in its time. Thus, there was another boost to its production.
Mercedes-Benz’s engine requires high maintenance. But even if that is the case, people still loved to own a Mercedes-Benz car and drive with pride along the cemented pavement of every street. The success of the company can still be seen until today with their high sophisticated engines and cars.
Today, the 300SL gull wing could be the best car to be added in the collection as it was at 5th rank as a sports car of all time.
