Those with a keen eye will recognise this barnyard wreck is an iconic Mercedes-Benz 300SL coupé; the original ‘Gullwing’. It’s a 1955 model and only the very knowledgeable will pick it as a special alloy-bodied competition special. Just 29 were ever made.
Along with its alloy body panels Mercedes made further modifications including the use of lightweight Plexiglas, while lowering and revising the suspension, adding a high-lift camshaft, knockoff Rudge wheels and bigger brakes.
Making this find more remarkable is the fact the car is still with its original owner. How could he let such a classic and truly great car end up in this condition? Well, perhaps receiving the car as a graduation gift didn’t exactly bestow the original owner with the greatest appreciation for what he had been given.
Tom Welmers, the owner in question, drove his 300SL regularly until the 1970s when the transmission failed. What we see now is the result of a half-baked DIY repair job. It’s not that Welmers didn’t have the expertise to fix it—maybe he did, maybe he didn’t—the point is the car has sat in this state of disrepair for around 40 years. Why?
Rudi Koniczek is a restoration specialist and he not only established the bona fide nature of this diamond in the rough, but, thankfully, has also been charged with returning the car to its former glory. Koniczek helped negotiate a sale to an appreciative benefactor and having already restored chassis #1 and #6 we expect the results for this rare 300SL will be stunning.
If the restored car goes up for auction, with its rarity and unique provenance, it’s expected to sell for well over a million dollars.
5 replies on “The ultimate barnyard find?”
What a sweet find!!!!
Don’t Mercedes do restorations of these sorts of great classics themselves in Germany? Wouldn’t this be a better/more appropriate/more value inducing place to send something like this to be reborn?
thats where i left it! been looking for it everywhere… brb
@AndrewH, I don’t know if Merc does that, although BMW certainly does.
Perhaps there’s a reason why it ended up in a barn with no bonnet… I dare say it may not be so pure to begin with.