Nov 29

Nov 29 VIN: the works Mercedes-Benz W198 300 SL Gullwing chassis 198.040.5500758

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History of chassis 198.040.5500758

Chassis 040.5500758 was the 300 SL Gullwing famously entered by Mercedes-Benz for the 1955 Mille Miglia which took place over the weekend of April 30th and May 1st.

Although an aluminium-bodied variant had been introduced in February 1955, for marketing reasons, the factory decided to run a standard steel example at the Italian road race.

Chassis ‘758’ was equipped with several optional extras to include Graphite Grey paint, Black leather upholstery, Rudge wheels, a perspex bug deflector and a 3.42 axle ratio instead of the normal 3.64 setting. It was road registered W21 6628.

The Graphite Grey Gullwing would contest the over 1.3-litre GT class in the hands of American driver John Fitch and his countryman Kurt Gessel who handled navigation duties. After scrutineering, the car’s front bumper was removed to save a few vital pounds.

Mercedes had undertaken an unprecedented test programme for the Mille Miglia, but were up against a formidable contingent of Italian and British cars. To win the Grand Touring class, they would have to beat a pair of factory-supported Aston Martin DB2/4s plus an array of Alfa Romeo 1900 SS, Lancia Aurelias and the odd Ferrari.

In addition to the Fitch / Gessel Gullwing, Mercedes entered four of their top flight 300 SLR sports racers which would be gunning for outright victory.

The Mille Miglia was round three of the 1955 World Sportscar Championship and that year’s event was unusually blessed with sunshine all the way.

Fitch / Gessel departed at 4:17am. They had a relatively trouble-free run to finish the 992 mile loop from Brescia down to Rome and back again in 11 hours 29 minutes and 21 seconds. This was good enough to claim fifth place overall and win the GT category.

Another Gullwing also claimed second in class: Belgians Olivier Gendebien and Jacques Washer came home a little under seven minutes later to finish seventh overall.

The ‘55 Mille Miglia was a great success for Mercedes as Stirling Moss / Denis Jenkinson took outright victory with a record time in their 300 SLR. Juan Manuel Fangio drove single-handedly and finished second.

A week later, Mercedes invited a party of 20 international journalists to test the Fitch / Gessel 300 SL on a closed 11km section of the Munich – Nuremberg – Berlin autobahn. For this purpose, chassis ‘758’ had been equipped with a 3.09:1 final drive which was the longest on offer.

Despite strong winds, the car achieved a best average time of 156.6mph.

Afterwards, Wilson McComb (who covered the event for Autosport magazine) was handed the keys for the drive back to Frankfurt airport. McComb wrote:

“We were given the car, fitted with number plates and tanked up, at 12:30pm, and at a distance of 250 miles we had averaged almost 77mph in a car which had done the Mille Miglia and over 500 miles of maximum speed testing, and the only effect was to drop the coolant temperature from 80 deg. C. to 75 deg. C.”

Chassis ‘758’ was subsequently sold off, after which it went through the hands of several private owners before it finally ended up in the Louwman Museum.