Well-heeled fans of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL gulling have the chance to pick up the only example to have left the factory in a striking green color known as Mittelgrün, German for “medium green.”
The car is listed for sale on Hemmings by the dealer NV Classics for an asking price of $2.595 million.
That’s a steep price, even for original gullwings, and it’s quite the premium on the $1.815 million the car traded for only a year ago at a Mecum auction.
The car is a numbers-matching 1955 example bearing a chassis number ending in “263.” It was originally shipped to Mercedes-Benz Distributors of New York, Mercedes’ U.S. importer at the time. This was the outfit of Max Hoffman, who was influential in convincing Mercedes to turn the original SL race car into the 300SL sports car, so he could market in the U.S. Hoffman also convinced a fledgling Porsche to start selling cars here.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL gullwing in Mittelgrün – photo credit: Mecum
The green 300SL’s early history is unknown, but in 1973 it was purchased by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation and was on display periodically at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Collection up until 2020. A full restoration was done in the late 2000s, and some touch-up work was done by expert Mercedes restorer Scott Grundfor Company prior to its previous sale.
Included in the latest sale is a copy of the original build sheet.
Like all 300SLs, the car is powered by a 3.0-liter inline-6 with fuel injection. The engine, rated at 215 hp in original form (later builds were offered with a 240-hp upgraded camshaft option), is mated to a 4-speed manual and spins the rear wheels.
A total of 1,400 300SL gullwings were built from 1954 to 1957, and 29 of them were lightweight models with aluminum (instead of steel) bodies that helped shave 187 pounds. One of those lightweight cars sold for almost $7 million in 2022.
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