This 300 SL roadster began its automotive life with a major performance. It was selected as a showpiece at the London Motor Show 1960 from 19 to 29 October. Completion of the car was scheduled for September, but a change request was received on the 14th of the month to give the roadster its final appearance: disc wheels with chrome-plated hubcaps and high-gloss polished fenders. After all, it was meant to shine!

The 300 SL must have been virtually complete at the time. The Exhibition Department picked ivory 608 as its colour, combined with black leather 953 and a black bouclé rug 1090. Encapsulated in just two words: timelessly elegant!

Instruments with English labelling were sensible, of course, along with the nameplates of the front of the back, but without stating the vintage. Naturally the polyethylene covering on the seats as well. The 300 SL was predestined to shine below the bonnet as well, as the engine and units had been prepared for the exhibition no less meticulously than the bodywork itself. And a kilo of paint was added, just to be on the safe side.

It is understandable that Mercedes-Benz was keen to show how beautiful the roadster looks with its hardtop. So a black specimen was added, lined on the inside with white synthetic leather. It is rather odd that a folding top was not included. How many visitors are likely to have assumed they were viewing the new coupé? But it doesn’t matter, because the lines with the fitted hardtop are quite simply captivating as well!

So there it stood in London, stealing the show from many others for 10 long days. It is reasonable to assume that it was returned to the factory afterwards, because who would buy one of the world’s most expensive convertibles without a folding roof?

Completely unaware of its history, the roadster was purchased by an Austrian businessman from a German dealer in 1976. He kept the 300 SL for four decades, looking after it meticulously, but never restoring it, although others may have done so long before. Doubtless the coat of paint was renewed and a couple of repairs carried out where necessary. But by and large this SL is an unrestored specimen, entirely authentic and pleasantly different. The magnificent patina on the inside and outside, as well as on the engine below the bonnet, is a quality that not many cars of this kind can boast. Driven only sporadically in the last two years, the SL was sent in for major servicing just recently, during which a specialist overhauled the injection pump.

The 300 SL is already a legend today, but the condition of this one is truly special. And its history makes it unique.

VIN: 19804210002663, mileage: 86,648 km (read), displacement: 2,996 cc/R6, engine: 19898010002715, colour: ivory (608) / black (953) leather, gearbox: 4-speed, power: 215 hp, papers: Austrian individual approval