Car: 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gull Wing Coupe
Owner: Dr. & Mrs. Robert Blayden
From: Atlanta, GA

One of 1,100 Gullwings produced, this car finished in a “one off” factory combination db366, dark blue metallic and red leather interior and is a very early car, (#47). Its early vintage is identified by the long “S” shaped gearshift lever and the welding behind the “eyebrows” over the wheel wells.
Mercedes made many running changes during the 1954-1957 run of the Gullwing and reportedly lost money on each car.
Dr. & Mrs. Blayden have owned this car since 1973 and have just completed a full body off restoration less than a year ago.

http://www.mercedesshop.com/images/2000amelia/1954_300sl_1.jpg

http://www.mercedesshop.com/images/2000amelia/1954_300sl_2.jpg

http://www.mercedesshop.com/images/2000amelia/1954_300sl_3.jpg

http://www.mercedesshop.com/images/2000amelia/1954_300sl_4.jpg

http://www.mercedesshop.com/images/2000amelia/1954_300sl_5.jpg

Photos by Bill Wood
2000 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance
Nikon 900S
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Bill Wood - Webmaster
MercedesShop.com, LLC

[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 03-18-2000).]

Oh Man !!!! Thank you for the wonderful pictures of that georgous 300SL Gull Wing.

On my first ever visit to a MB dealership, they had a silver 300SL Gull Wing on the showroom floor. Somewhere in the cockpit was posted a sign saying something to the effect that you should not exceed 120 mph(I think)with touring tires! Impressive! This was at a time when few street autos could reach 100. Very little Interstate highway and speed limits were generally around 60.

To the best of my recollection(this was 46 years ago), the list price for that gem was on the order of $13,500. Wish I could have bought 2 of them.

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Ted
1979 240D

Got to see this Gullwing again this past weekend (Feb. 23rd) at the MBCA Peachtree Section's SL event.

Really sweet!

Absolutely beautiful!

just seeing a picture of that car motivates me to make more ,money! I want ONE!

and you deserve extra kudos for having and enjoying it for almost 30 years.

Frank Spellman, a Washington, DC surgeon has a 300 "roadster" in like condition. It was feature car in The Star a few months back.

Although they're surely nice now, I wonder if today's computer-dependant successors to this wonderful vehicle will still be around in 30 years.