1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Coupé
- Colour
- White over red leather interior
Chassis 198.040.5500048 is an early-production 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing (W198) completed on 27 January 1955 and delivered via Max Hoffman's New York distributorship in white over red leather with period 1954-style details including a concave star grille and bolt-on wheel arches. Numbers-matching throughout, it retains its original Roser leather interior and has lived most of its life as a driven road car rather than a concours exhibit, accumulating just over 54,000 miles across nearly seven decades of private ownership.
Ownership
- —Auction saleSold US$1,380,000
- 1955-01-29 →Factory deliveryMax Hoffman distributorshipfull documentation
Special order from Hoffman's New York City operation; car was completed and shipped to them in late January 1955 in a specific white-over-red configuration with period-correct trim details.
- → 1979Acquisition unknownVance Hollingsworthpartial documentation
A used-car dealer based in Roanoke, Virginia who habitually held onto noteworthy trade-ins; he used the Gullwing as regular daily transport for a period.
- 1979 → 2024Acquisition unknownFamily owner from 1979partial documentation
Retained the car for roughly 45 years, keeping it largely in domestic garage storage rather than active use or concours preparation.
Competition
No competition history extracted from the catalogue.
Maintenance & restoration
- —Bodywork
The car was repainted once, apparently in the 1960s or early 1970s, returning it to its factory-original white colour.
Prose characterises this as a single refinish episode; exact date is not recorded.
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