A tastefully restored aluminum-bodied 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing was auctioned by Gooding & Company, for a record $4.62 million.
The Gullwing is a very, very special car in its own right. But this one here is a true jewel, given its history and immaculate condition. The fact that this is one of the only 29 Alloy 300SLs makes it doubly unique.
This SL, chassis number 5500208, was sent to America on May 27, 1955, and had a pretty normal life with no recorded race history, until 1980 when it fell in the hands of Hans Dieter Blatzheim of Bonn, Germany. He bought the car for $57,000 which is truly fantastic for an unrestored car, especially at that time.
It was then restored for the first time and, for some unknown reason, was sent back to Germany and came back to America in 1982. It went through some other repair jobs and engine rebuild by a couple of other owners, until it was bought by the McBride family. They gave it the most thorough restoration work, which took until mid 2011.
