Mercedes SL Series - The Complete Story

By: Andrew Noakes .

Mercedes-Benz has built an enviable reputation for engineering excellence and a history of sporting success. The two come together in the glamorous and successful SL series, which has evolved from all-conquering racing cars to successive generations of swift and increasingly sure-footed roadsters.

Andrew Noakes traces the SL story from its beginnings in the early 1950s, when the war-torn Daimler-Benz company sought to rebuild its prestige in motor sport with a low-cost, production-based racing car. Rudolf Uhlenhaut's 300SL was the result, a blend of sophisticated spaceframe construction and prosaic production-car running gear which proved to be stunningly capable, winning at Le Mans in 1952 and dominating that season's sports-car events.

The book details the birth of those 'Gullwing' racing cars and reveals their extraordinary racing record. It looks at the iconic 300SL road car that was developed from them, and the two very different SL roadsters that would follow later in the 1950s, the 300SL and 190SL.

Every subsequent generation of SL road car is also described in detail, from the classic 'Pagoda- roof' model of the 1960s to the very latest R230-series SL of today. In addition the book looks at spin-offs from the SL series including the 1970s SLC coupe, the 1990s SLK roadster and the awesome McLarendeveloped SLR.

In racing, the SLs were near unbeatable. On the road, each new generation of SL has become the car to be seen in — and this book is a tribute to that sophisticated blend of speed, style and safety.

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