VIN: the works Mercedes-Benz W194 300 SL chassis 00004/52
History of chassis 00004/52
Mercedes initially built ten examples of the W194 300 SL, eight of which were raced during the 1952 season. An eleventh W194 was subsequently created to serve as a prototype for the W198 Gullwing production model.
Chassis 00004/52 first appeared at the W194’s maiden event, the Mille Miglia, which took place over May 4th and 5th. Mercedes had a three-car team for the Italian road race; 04 was allocated to the highly fancied pairing of Karl Kling and Hans Klenk.
Kling set a blistering pace from the off. He took the lead when Giovanni Bracco’s works Ferrrai 250 Sport suffered early tyre trouble. The Ferraris of Eugenio Castelotti and Piero Taruffi then applied some pressure, however, Kling was able to average a very high speed and retain his position at the head of the field.
By the time he reached Florence, Kling had a four minute lead over the hard-chasing Bracco. However, Bracco was driving superbly and eventually forged ahead in the Futa Pass.
More tyre trouble for the Ferrari soon after the Bologna checkpoint allowed Kling back through, but Bracco had re-taken the lead and established a 100 second advantage by the time he reached Modena.
This gap was subsequently extended when Kling / Klenk were forced to make a late stop for a loose wheel. Bracco / Alfonso ultimately won by 4 minutes and 32 seconds. Nevertheless, Kling / Klenk had given the W194 a very promising debut.
Chassis 04 then appeared for the W198’s second competition outing, an 18 lap race around streets of Bremgarten in support of the Swiss Formula 1 Grand Prix (May 18th).
For this, the car had been re-painted green while the three sister cars in attendance were variously painted dark red, light blue and silver.
Karl Kling took the wheel of 04 and qualified second behind the Ferrari 340 America of Swiss Sportscar Champion, Willie Daetwyler.
Once the pole-starting Ferrari had retired (after just three laps), the Mercedes were able to put on a dominant display. Kling led team-mates Hermann Lang and Frit Riess to a famous 1-2-3 finish.
Unfortunately, the race was marred by a career-ending accident for Mercedes driver Rudolf Caracciola who crashed his W194 into a tree at high speed.
04’s final appearance came at the season-ending Carrera Panamericana which took place over a 1934 mile route between November 19th and 23rd. The by now silver Gullwing served as a spare parts car for the Mexico event which was ultimately won for Mercedes by Kling / Klenk.
04 was subsequently used for promotional duty. One such outing came on May 23rd 1953 when Mercedes’ US distributor, Max Hoffman, gave the car a demonstration run at the Bridgehampton SCCA National event.
After this appearance, the car slipped into obscurity. It has not been seen in public since.
Notable History
Daimler-Benz
Registered W59 4997
Silver
04/05/1952 IND Mille Miglia (K. Kling / H. Klenk) 2nd oa, 2nd S2.0+ class (#623)
Re-painted Green
18/05/1952 IND Swiss GP Support Race, Bremgarten (K. Kling) 1st oa (#18) Daimler-Benz
Re-painted Silver
03/08/1952 IND German GP Support Race, Nurburgring (-) T-car (#33T) Daimler-Benz
Used for promotional purposes
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Mercedes-Benz - https://www.mercedes-benz.com
