A unique 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing coupe is scheduled to hit the auction block on April 1 at Mecum Auctions’ Glendale, Arizona, sale.
Just 1,400 Gullwing coupes were built between 1954 and 1957, but only one looked like this. It’s the only Gullwing to leave the factory in Mittelgrun (German for “medium green”) paint, which is also repeated on the dashboard.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in Mittelgrun (photo via Mecum Auctions)
According to the auction listing, the green Gullwing was completed April 30, 1955, and shipped to Mercedes-Benz Distributors of New York. This was Mercedes’ U.S. importer at the time and was owned by Max Hoffman, who was influential in bringing the 300SL to this country in the first place as a less-hardcore derivative of the early SL race cars. Gullwing doors originated with those race cars, which had a chassis design that didn’t allow for conventional doors.
The car was purchased by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation in January 1973, and received a body-off restoration sometime in the early 2000s, the listing says. Following the restoration, it was displayed periodically at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum from 2015 to 2020.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing in Mittelgrun (photo via Mecum Auctions)
While the interior was switched from gray leather to beige, the car retains its distinctive Mittelgrun paint color and the original 3.0-liter fuel-injected inline-6 engine. It produces about 215 hp, which is sent to the rear wheels through a 4-speed manual transmission.
This Gullwing is expected to sell for between $1.8 million and $2.2 million, according to enthusiast site BenzInsider, and that wouldn’t even come near the top price for one of these cars. One of the rarer aluminum-bodied Gullwings sold for almost $7 million in 2022, and a low-mileage 300SL Roadster fetched $3.7 million at auction in 2018.
