Car of the Week: This Long-Forgotten Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Could Fetch $6 Million at Auction
Since 1967, Rudi Klein had quietly amassed an astonishing collection of some of the world’s most revered automobiles—along with an Everest of parts—at his junkyard. The treasure trove included the rarest of rare examples from Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz, stored in various states of disrepair, either in ramshackle steel sheds or out in the open. There were whispered rumors that a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Alloy” Gullwing was stashed away among the automotive exotica; rumors which have now been verified.
After Klein died in 2001, the junkyard was taken over by his two sons who maintained the same level of secrecy. That was until earlier this year when the brothers decided to sell. RM Sotheby’s was tasked with orchestrating the auction, which takes center stage on October 26 when “The Junkyard: The Rudi Klein Collection” goes under the hammer.
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“The 300 SL is arguably the star of the collection and, without doubt, one of the most exciting postwar Mercedes-Benz to be offered in decades,” says Cary Ahl, collection specialist at RM Sotheby’s. “Yet it was only when we started delving into its history did we discover just how special the car is.”
While a total of 1,400 examples of the 300 SL coupe—with its iconic gullwing doors—were built between 1954 and 1957, only 29 were the alloy-bodied competition version. The Rudi Klein car is the 26th of 29 and manufactured in January 1956. Ahl explains that the special order Leichtmetallausführung (or “Light Metal Version”) not only came with an aluminum body, but other weight-shaving features such as knock-off Rudge wheels and Plexiglas for the rear and side windows—modifications that helped make the variant a total of 209 pounds lighter than the standard steel 300 SL.
Aimed at well-heeled amateur racers, the 300 SL “Alloy” Gullwing was also fitted with performance-enhancing features such as a 215 hp, fuel-injected 3.0-liter straight-six engine, a sports suspension, a lower axle ratio, and ventilated front drum brakes.
To add to this example’s provenance, it was ordered by none other than Luigi Chinetti, Ferrari’s North American importer who was also a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the owner of the famous North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.). To distinguish it even more, the vehicle was the only one originally painted in Schwarz (a shade of black), contrasting with the red-leather interior.
“We believe Chinetti commissioned his ‘Alloy’ Gullwing in order to compare the Mercedes against his then-current Ferrari stock. He kept it for some 20 years, during which time he changed the color from black to silver,” explains Ahl.
Fast forward to the 1976 Daytona 500 race in Florida. There, Klein reportedly met Chinetti and persuaded him to sell his beloved 300 SL for $30,000—a princely sum at the time. When the Mercedes arrived at Klein’s scrapyard in South Central LA, circa 1977, it was parked inside the yard’s main building. Amazingly, that’s primarily where it stayed until it was put on display at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction this past August.
“The Klein sons told us the car was the only prize in the collection that Rudi never drove or exhibited, remaining within the walls of the yard, and largely within one building, for nearly 50 years,” says Ahl.
Yet despite Klein paying top dollar for the Gullwing, it seems he couldn’t resist his instincts as a used-parts dealer. Over the years he owned it, he sold off the car’s chrome bumpers, shift knob, tool kit, jack, and spare wheel.
Today, this dusty and timeworn 300 SL is obviously in need of a complete restoration to put it back on the road. (The dent in the rear fender is where Klein backed into the Gullwing with his forklift.) The car will be sold at no reserve, with a price estimate of between $4.5 million and $6 million.
Click below for more photos of this forgotten 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Alloy” Gullwing.
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