Sunday, January 27, 2013

Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing Longroof

Click photos to enlarge, as always, here at casey/artandcolour.

Looking through my earlier work, I realized I haven't yet posted this mid 1950s Mercedes Benz 300 Gullwing Tourer on this blog. I chopped this up in 2007 or so. All the cool people that collect station wagons these days refer to them as "Longroofs" and that's certainly true of my version. I don't believe this change would have added too much weight to the original coupe and with that rear hatch and additional loading space, might have made this incredible sports car just a bit more useful for Grand Touring.

The New Gullwing 

My primary reason for modifying the current SLS, the newest Gullwing, was to change the window graphic. The new one has a solid B/C pillar instead of having rear quarter windows as the original. I just don't think the car looks right without them. I'm sure the blank quarters add torsional rigidity, but I'm also certain that Mercedes/AMG engineers are brilliant enough to overcome any loss with added windows. Above, my "South Beach" edition is metallic gold with additional strakes and silver trim. You just can't be "bling" enough for South Beach! Below, additional work was done to shorten the very long hood. I wanted this Gullwing to be a hybrid, and to be as lightweight as possible to I changed the proportions accordingly. I still think it's a beautiful car and could be the Hybrid to end all Hybrids if produced. 


Note:
My friend Woody Thompson's car site has a new URL now: woodyscarsite.blogspot.com. The old links won't work for it. Please adjust your bookmarks and head over there today!

2 comments:

  1. I like the Gullwing. I think the Englishters refer to these as 'Shooting Brakes' This is a lot nicer than the Ferrari all wheel drive car that is 'wagon-like'. It is graceful and still German, something I cannot say about today's SL. Good stuff! Thanks.

    BobF

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