Famous owners of iconic Mercedes-Benz 300 SL

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On the occasion of 60 years anniversary of 300 SL, here is a list of the main important owners of this iconic car.

Mercedes 300 SL W198 is considered by many specialists the no 1 sports car of XX century. It has all ingredients to be classified in this sense.

The car rolled off the assembly line in low numbers: 1,400 units between 1954-1957 for the coupe and 1,858 units for the roadster version between 1957-1963. The technical solutions adopted at that time are very modern for our times also: direct petrol injection engine and aluminium chassis (chassis with serial number 198043 used for 29 units). The gullwing doors create a fashion in the car industry. Not in the end, the reliability assured by the Daimler brand made from this car a high desirable collection object.

The iconic Mercedes-Benz 300 SL – a treasure today

Actually, at different auctions required prices reach unbelievable levels between 1.5 and 2 million USD. In reality the transaction prices are much lower than the asking price but there are also exceptions. And these exceptions are for cars owned by celebrities.

For example, the car of Clark Gable who bought as new a 1955 Gullwing Coupe was sold at an auction at Scottsdale, USA in 2013 for 1.85 million USD. The car was perfectly restored in 1989 and the accessories added by Gable himself like Nardi steering wheel remains in place.

One of the coupes from 1954, the first year of production, was sold to shipowner Stavros Niarchos. The car had a unique original blue colour special created at the request of Niarchos. The car reached in the end to a swiss collector in 1988 and was completely restored in 2006 keeping the original colour and the rudge wheels, the most desirable factory option.

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL – 11 original units in the hands of AMG

11 original units (8 coupes and 3 roadsters) were modified by AMG between 1996 and 2009. The car retains its original 1954 W198 chassis, which was slightly modified to accommodate a modern 6.0-litre AMG V8 engine, codename M119 which deliver 381 HP. The engine was mated with 4 speed automatic gearbox. The AMG 300 SL has some modifications to the drive train to manage the high power and torque of AMG engine. Rear axle was taken over from R129 (SL generation from 1989), sports suspension was delivered by Bilstein, brakes and power steering come from C 36 AMG. Five of these tuning cars were bought by the royal family of Brunei and from other six units, one was sold at an auction also in Scottsdale in may 2014 for 812,000 euros.

Chassis number prefixs of coupes and roadster are:

194010 for 300SL (racing version)
198040 for series production coupe
198043 for coupe with aluminium body
198042 for roadster.
M198 is the prefix of the engine for all body versions

The list of the famous owners

Here is the list of the most famous owners with the chassis numbers. In the list there are famous names like Juan Perón, Stavros Niarchos, Herbert von Karajan, Tony Curtis, Porfirio Rubirosa, Rob Walker, Juan Manuel Fangio,  Henri Nannen, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Romy Schneider, Clark Gable, Curd Jürgens, Gunter Sachs, Glenn Ford, Horst Buchholz, Syd Mead und Willi Daume.

Chassis nummer & first owner

198.040.5500111
Schah Reza Pahlevi, Teheran

198.040.5500113
Sujaatullah Khan, Karachi

198.040.5500122
Graf Constantin von Berkheim

198.040.5500129
Adam Opel AG

198.040.5500144
S. D. Joachim Erbprinz zu Fürstenberg

198.040.4500003
Briggs Cunningham, L.A.

198.040.4500005
Juan Peron

198.040.4500008
Aga Khan, New York

198.040.4500062
Prinz Aly Khan, Paris

198.040.4500073
Stavros Niarchos, Paris

198.040.4500087
Porfirio Rubirosa

198.040.4500141
Rob Walker, London

198.043.5500190
Juan Manuel Fangio

198.040.5500207
Toni Ulmen

198.040.5500223
S. D. Fürst von Metternich

198.040.5500341
Henkel & Cie.

198.040.5500378
Herbert von Karajan, Vaduz

198.040.5500394
Kurt Ahrens

198.043.5500426
Auto-Radio Becker

198.040.5500443
Alfred Krupp

198.040.5500596
Ibn Talal Hussein, König von Jordanien, Amman

198.040.5500605
Ministry of Supply, London

198.040.5500615
H.C. Bentley Ltd.

198.040.5500787
Tony Curtis, L.A.

198.040.5500807
Earl Howe, London

198.043.5500840
Rob Walker, London

198.043.5500872
Luigi Chinetti

198.040.6500069
Ibn Talal Hussein, König von Jordanien, Amman

198.040.6500114
Henri Nannen

198.040.6500121
Ernst Sachs

198.040.6500122
Gunter Sachs

198.040.6500153
E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington

198.040.6500212
Prinz zu Salm-Salm

198.040.6500311
Gulf Oil Company, London

198.042.7500082
Schah Reza Pahlevi, Teheran

198.042.7500219
Horst Buchholz

198.042.7500462
Schah Reza Pahlevi, Teheran

198.042.8500209
Romy Schneider

198.042.8500245
Baron von Thyssen