Brabus Restores A Special 300 SL Gullwing

This has a direct connection with the pop art icon Andy Warhol.

At TCI, we absolutely love classic cars. And the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, which first came out in 1954, is one fine example. Only 1,400 examples were built, with the last one leaving the factory at Stuttgart in 1957. One of the specimens, with the chassis number 198.040-5500629 and license plate “EI – DR 1”, found space on pages 95 and 95 in the book – Series Sports Cars from 1945-1980 by Frank Oleski.

That was the book that Andy Warhol referred to when Daimler-Benz commissioned him to produce a series of original artworks that would portray the story of the automobile. And the particular 300 SL Gulling specimen mentioned above was one of the several other classics that were colourfully and boldly captured in the “Cars” series.

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As you know, Brabus GmbH is a renowned tuning firm based out of Germany. One of its arms is called Brabus Classic, which, as the name suggests, handles more delicate stuff from the pages of history. The very 300 SL Gulling that Andy Warhol immortalised has been restored to its original glory by Brabus Classic.

The firm categorises it under the Brabus 6-Star-Restoration. Snappy tag! But, you’d agree with that name after learning that 4,500 hours of manual labour and attention to the minutest detail went into the project. The hard work went into resurrecting the bodywork, the tube frame, the interior and the powertrain.

Under the bonnet is a water-cooled 3.0-litre straight-six heart that offers 215hp/275Nm. All that is fed to the wheels via a 4-speed transmission. This combination made the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gulling the fastest road-legal car of its time.

For the interior, the guys from Brabus Saddlery came into the equation. All chrome elements, leather, and fabric materials have been restored so beautifully that the car looks like it came off the factory floor earlier this week, not in 1955.

There’s no word on why this particular 300 SL Gullwing was restored. However, I think it deserves a space in a museum for all the car fans to relish the craftsmanship.