Mercedes 190SL and 300SL 1954 - 1963 Road Tests

By: Brooklands Books .

Mercedes introduced their first unitary car as the 180. It was a short step to the 190 revealed in 1954 with plexiglas screen and lightweight doors. Not produced until March 1955, the production cars have bodywork akin to the 300SL and powered by a 4-cylinder ohc engine of 1897cc. Production lasted until February 1963.

Using racing techniques of adding lightness the 300SL ended up with wide chassis rails wide not enabling conventional doors to be used. Thus the Gullwing was born in 1952 as a pure sports/racing car. The production version gained weight with road going features and a slightly redesigned body. Bosch fuel injection helped to get the extra power needed. 1400 coupes were built before being replaced by the roadster in 1957.

This is a book of contemporary road tests, technical data, racing, and restoration.

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