1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe – Ultimate Edition - Jay Leno's Garage

[Music] [Music] welcome to the episode of Jay Leno's Garage we're here in the mercedes-benz section of the garage I used to work for mercedes-benz when I was in college I was kind of an oil change new car prep guys I've always felt a certain allegiance with the company the hot mercedes-benz design of cars for the 6.3 I finally went back and bought myself a 1970 16.3 with 300,000 miles on it and we're going to put that modern 6.3 engine but that's another story we'll talk about that later this is all mercedes-benz memorabilia as a very young Stirling Moss right there I've been fortunate enough to get to know sterling a little bit over the years just a wonderful wonderful guy yes sterling Moss with the pre-production holding right there there's Jon Fitch Jon Fitch legendary American racecar driver when the Mille Miglia in the 1955 mercedes benz called wing and that's what the factory looked like after world war ii within seven years of that they had these cars on the road which is pretty amazing and this is something I'm very proud of I got a chance to know Fangio a little bit this is his 1951 World Cup championship back in those days they didn't give you ten million dollars to drive you've got a little cup you got a handshake a slice a cold mutton here you go your world champ thank you very much and that was it but that's one of my most treasured items I love that thing I'm mentioning all this because this is the car we're talking about today the 1955 mercedes benz a Gullwing this is probably the most legendary mercedes of all this was the McLaren f1 of its day they always called the Miura the first supercar and I understand that but this one I think certainly deserves that title as well introduced in 1954 at the International Auto Show in New York City a man named max Hoffman who was a importer of European cars Porsche mercedes-benz BMW he saw the race version of the Gullwing and said you have to build a civilian version mercedes-benz said no we can't take a chance he said I guarantee I'll buy him all of them and they built 1,400 of them 1,100 of them came the United States the rest went around the world in 1955 I think they built 867 of these something like that you know it's interesting this is a car I always liked but for some reason I didn't I don't know why I didn't think I'd like to drive it it looked heavy to me and I had an opportunity to buy this one this was in a container out in the desert here in California had no engine had no transmission stuff was missing I thought well this would be an interesting project and we got it together and is the most fantastic car to drive it's about 2,800 pounds very lightweight frame a series of tubes all welded together I guess the Italians would call that Superleggera tore off woman heart I believe was the gentleman the engineer behind this car the racing rules at the time said you had to have doors that open but they didn't say how you had to open and because of the frame and the chassis coming up to here you couldn't have conventional doors so they put these doors in which of course is now the iconic mercedes-benz going as you can see it was a race car I am only the third owner but the fascinating part about it is it was never damaged it was never hit had never gotten a bad shunt or a bad accident the car in 1971 when the previous owner bought it it was an old sports car he took it to Tony Nancy a legendary hot rodder here in California known for his hotrod interiors he did all the fancy due scoops and things just on hot rod magazines and he did the interior that's a Toni Nancy interior and a man named Jr's House of Kolor he was probably the most famous painter of hot rods and custom cars in Southern California still around today actually still working he did it in his candy apple red as you can see sitting out in the dry climate the desert cracked and paint is falling off it but you know something it's fun to have a car like this you can just go like this you know it's not some show queen that okay I get away from that you know people want to sit on it from it if you want to rub up against it it's not the end of the world at some point I will finish the restoration and restore it but for now it's wonderful just to drive it as an old sports car let's take a next dorm we'll take another look at it what a wonderful car this is it's it's pretty amazing I never really appreciated how good these cars are it had this wimpy gearshift sticking out of here and I just thought well how fast gonna be what could it be like it is an amazing car to drive it was really a revelation how fantastic this car is let's go over some of the dashboard here as I said this car has not been restored the one thing we did do we pulled all the gauges out and cleaned up the faces on them this of course is your tachometer speedometer fuel you have oil pressure water oil pressure here oil temperature oil pressure there and then of course you have your ammeter lights turn signals up here you light to let you know your enricher is on fuel pump something odd which is really different is you have a horn button over here I don't know you have it here as well okay so your pageant wants to bump beep the horn I know what that's all about and of course you have you your heater controls here cigarette lighter here as well mechanical clock you just kind of wind it I like that actually because you can turn off the power you don't lose the clock let's take a look under the hood the motor is back in for the first time in probably 30 35 years this thing was scattered to the four winds when we got it three liter engine what is it 183 cubic inches 220 horsepower a direct gasoline fuel injection first production car ever to have that although that is commonplace now it was really state-of-the-art back in the day the engine is taken from the 300 series Mercedes Benz notice how its slanted on its side so you can get a low hood here the old filter there air cleaner radiator overflow they got 220 horsepower out of it pushing 2,700 pounds which which was quite a bit we had the engine on the dyno and it ran fine but at high rpm it was running lean than that ripen are going way lean what this has is in the fuel diaphragm was that lamb skin is that made it's a lambskin lambskin diaphragm you guys know what lambskin to use for what was also used now for a diaphragm and mercedes-benz and because the engine had been sitting for a long long time it had just deteriorated and it was it was making the car run too lean but it ran and it would have been a situation where if we've been out on the road and running it up to four grand or five grand we probably would have melted a piston yeah I would have burned a hole using the dyno as you can see so we're able to replace that diaphragm get the engine running perfectly well breaking in then put it back in the car unlike some Italian exotics the German stuff everything fits first time you get it this is an exceptionally well-built automobile you know I had always heard about you know electrolysis when you have steel fenders and aluminum pieces and metal touching metal and causing rest I always thought that would be a problem with these that it's not what this one probably because it was in the desert in a dry climate you know all the pieces that we ordered for them and like you say they'll they'll fit though we replaced all the oil hoses in the coolant hoses the great thing about mercedes-benz is they have something called the mercedes-benz classic Center so if you have a mercedes-benz any year every part is available and it's a it's a mercedes-benz part it's not built by an aftermarket guy for example when I got this this has fin brake drums beautifully finned drum brakes and a big chunk of the fin was broken off we thought well let's just use our 3d printer we'll make up a new piece will fit it it probably would have cost us two grand and machining time and everything oh absolutely and we're able to buy a new drum from mercedes-benz they're not cheap but it's cheaper than not getting it I mean you're not gonna find that at a swap meet the only other thing we did is they make a modern electronic ignition just for the sake of not getting stranded on the highway and now you can go back to the stock ignition at any time you know guys and have these cars are real purists they like them to be exactly as they left the factory I'm not that fussy I'd like I just like to drive it and use it these tires also came from the Mercedes Benz classics Center you won't find that size tire they don't make it anymore well mercedes-benz had them made up special let's see do we have any trouble with the transmission transmission was straightforward I think we ran into Jelena too right yeah the only other thing we did is we did the brakes on it yeah we did the brakes you always what I always want to do that there are a number of people that can do the brakes are these new wheel cylinders new master cylinder and stainless steel brake lines folding steering wheel a Bernard made a couple of pieces for that you know some guys take and put the wood steering wheels on them the NAR DS and they're okay but I love this I mean this is just that German precision it clicks right in and it makes egress getting in and out of the car just so much easier and for a sports car from the 50s to have heating and ventilation that actually works you can get a little toasty in the summer but these windows pop out in fact that's the main reason they built the 300sl convertible model so many people just they thought it was just too much trouble having these dull wing doors but in retrospect the gull wing is really the one everybody wants now as you can see not a lot of trunk space here full-size spare tire jack 34 gallon gas tank these are race cars and they said they actually handled better when they had a full tank but 34 gallons of fuel that's quite a bit okay again you don't want to be Britney Spears getting in this thing you push that up and snaps into place turn your key let me turn on my battery switch ancillary fuel pump this of course was the first production car ever to use fuel injection or gasoline fuel injection this would be went on a carbureted car would be a choke and fantastic sound you know there are some cars you get in and they disappoint you then there are some cars you get in there exactly what you thought you were then have some cars you get in it's just the police this is truly automobile I like the fact that the exception of the steering go nothing's plastic all the switchgear is metal and yet it's still a light car everything has a nice quality feel you know you turn out the lights you hear a click you know I just I like go it's like winding a mechanical watch you know you like hearing each little gear click in and because of these gold wing doors you actually have a lot of elbow room here as well you know these are owned by Elvis Presley had one Sofia Loren had one Frank Sinatra everybody know all the cool people had a Mercedes going because this was the f1 of its day there was really nothing as fast as this when American cars could belly hit a hundred miles an hour this thing went a hundred and fifty miles an hour 150 was like with like 220 today [Music] when I was a kid I worked at mercedes-benz dealership in Boston and we took one of these in in 1969 or 70 we gave the guy $5,500 for it two weeks later result of a $7,500 thought well that's it nobody will ever make that big a profit on one of these cars anymore well now these things my god I think this will be one of the few post-war production cars to go to a million dollars good ones now are half a million six seven hundred thousand dollars I was four watch enough to get a good deal in this time because it had no the engine the transmission everything was gone and it sounds fantastic [Music] and the cool thing is this car is modern car fast it's amazing how stable it is don't forget this thing was designed in the 50s in the era of fins and glitzen chrome it is so beautifully understated so aerodynamic you notice on the outside even the door handles a flush nothing to interfere with the flow of air over the car people wonder why they didn't put this brakes on this car why I didn't have a 5-speed well this car was pretty expensive as it was and those things were all just extra you know mercedes-benz like proven technology disc brakes were still fairly new in the early 50s and these massive fintan brake drums work quite well the 5-speed was just a little expensive Hey on in 50 miles an hour the force beat that's pretty good redline is about 6 man [Music] now you drive a modern car there's so much electronics involved you're not part of the automobile this thing is very missable I wish must say these bands had not stopped making manual gearboxes they do a nice job is the wonderful gear change hey you gotta be careful with these swing axles they can catch it going out you know if you go into a corner and you lift off the throttle have a play-in it'll snap and spit your out this isn't the car I Drive particularly hard you don't beat on it you can drive it swiftly and quickly but I don't drive it harshly and no we're not gonna do a Burnout I love this now that makes on the overrun [Music] the nice thing about this courage you've got normal ground clearance you know so many modern sports cars are so low euro is scraping and ripping and breaking off splitters you can hang the tail out a little bit the reason is car need to come on the radio you didn't need one it's very entertaining to drive engines smooth itself very pleasing exhaust note amazing they got it so right first time out the thing that really stands out about this car is the build quality I mean here it is 155 years later and this chassis is still a straight and true and strong as it ever was no flexing no creaks a rattle I'd roll down the windows and say see you next week but the window doesn't roll down see you next week [Music]

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 2,113,652

Rating: 4.9306068 out of 5

Keywords: Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay lenos garage, nbc jay lenos garage, jay leno, fab fours legend, jay leno fab fours legend, jay leno greg higgs, fab fours legend greg higgs, jay lenos garage greg higgs, jay lenos garage jeep, 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe – Ultimate Edition

Id: I4uEk3AcY84

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 25 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/OddPain]

Jay Leno may be the biggest car madman there is

[u/RapidCreek]

Does everybody know that Jay is a certified Ferrari mechanic?

[u/asoap]

Man Jay has some serious toys. He has his own personal automotive museum.

[u/Makke93]

He keeps it right next to Conan's hopes and dreams

[u/stillusesAOL]

Is that the episode where he puts a 1m gash into the side of his 300SL?

[u/bigfatbird]

Having money must be nice

[u/miniq]

If anyone is going to have that trophee then Jay is one of them

[u/DuckAvenger]

Well I did. He mentions it several, several times with the same jokes