From the seller of Grandma’s 190SL comes this 1954 Mercedes 300SL. We overlooked the listing because it looked so much like its little brother in the first auction photo. This is a real deal Gullwing though and it’s a rare one. Claimed to be a pre-production prototype and owned by the same person for the last 30 years, this could be the one to get if you are in the market. It isn’t going to go cheap with bidding starting at $850k on eBay.

Collectors search the world over for these beauties. They may get stuffy inside while driving on a hot day, but there are few cars with this much style and quality engineering. Sadly, the high demand and limited supply have driven the prices up into ranges not within reach of the average enthusiast. That also means that few get regular use and most spend their time sitting in the garage just like this one has done for the last 20 years.

This poor Gullwing has gone through a few color changes. Originally clad in white with a black leather interior, it was resprayed red and then black. As much as we love these in silver, the original white would look very classy. At this price, we would assume that the body is solid, but those Florida plates do make us a little nervous…

We are not so sure about the seller’s claim that this is a prototype car. It was built early in production, but the VIN doesn’t put it in prototype territory. It was from the first batch of 50 cars shipped and perhaps that makes it more attractive to collectors. The concave star grill and gooseneck shifter do make it unique, and the seller also mentions that RM auctions told them they could get a million for it, so maybe they know something we dont. When we read that, we wondered if it was an aluminum bodied car, but the numbers prove otherwise.

There are a few surprises here. The chrome exhaust manifolds, polished intake, and NSL stamped block may have caused RM to value this one where they did. The high performance NSL engine was standard in the 29 alloy cars, but was a rare option in a steel Gullwing. It offered more horsepower for competition purposes. Could this be the 1955 Detroit Auto Show car? Or was it a race car? Its history is unknown before going into retirement in 1962, so it could have lived a very eventful life indeed…

Source: eBay