The Smoking Tire One-Takes a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL
Matt Farah takes us along for a ride in a beautiful, classic 300SL Mercedes-Benz.
In this “One Take” video, The Smoking Tire host Matt Farah takes us for a ride in one of the true classics: an early production Mercedes-Benz 300SL. The famous Gullwing took advantage of MB’s racing provenance to become one of the most beautiful and unique sports cars ever built. Matt, after a brief false start with a stubborn starter and some horses, takes this one for a spin, along with owner Dieter Heinz of HG Motorsports.
Obviously, the gull-wing doors stand out most on the 300SL. While stylish and unique, they served for more than good looks, though. Mercedes wanted to race the 300SL around the world, and the motorsport governing body, the FIA, required doors. The 300SL’s designers penned the car around a Formula 1-style space frame. To retain the structural rigidity, they intended to leave the siderails unbroken. To fulfill the FIA’s requirements, that meant implementing the doors that have become the car’s namesake.
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That increase in structural rigidity, along with advanced suspension, led the original 300SL race cars to much success. Under the hood sits a 3.0-liter straight-six leaned over at an incredible 50 degrees. As Dieter points out in the video, the intake and exhaust both lay on the engine’s top side. To keep the engine from starving of oil, Mercedes added a dry-sump system. That setup created cleaner aerodynamics and less frontal area than its rivals.
In pre-production race cars, that 3.0-liter made only 171 horsepower with a triple-Solex carb setup. Incredibly, the entire race car weighed less than a ton. On production cars, Mercedes added Bosch fuel injection to make an impressive 219 horsepower, and the accommodations for a street car made a curb weight north of 2,500 pounds.
What stands out to both Heinz and Farah, however, is how well this production 300SL handles real speed. The car happily runs more than 100 miles per hour and responds quickly to inputs like a modern car. It’s a true testament to the car’s original racing nature. And, well, you just have to hear the inline-six bark like the race engine from which it’s derived.