VIN: the works Mercedes-Benz W194 300 SL chassis 00006/52
History of chassis 00006/52
Chassis 00006/52 was one of the original ten W194 300 SLs built for 1952. An eleventh then followed which served as a development mule for the W198 300 SL Gullwing production model.
00006/52 made its competitive debut at the W194’s second event: the Swiss Grand Prix Support Race at Bremgarten on May 18th. Four works cars were entered for the 18 lap contest, each of which was painted a unique colour. 00006/52 attended in a traditional silver colour scheme and was allocated to Fitz Riess who qualified eleventh.
Despite his lowly starting position, Riess moved through the field to finish third behind team-mates Karl Kling and Hermann Lang.
Unfortunately, the race was marred by a career-ending crash for Mercedes driver Rudolf Caracciola who lost control of his 300 SL on lap 13 and ploughed headlong into a tree at high speed.
Upon its return to Germany, 00006/52 was equipped with an experimental roof-mounted air brake that Mercedes planned to test at Le Mans. However, having run the air brake during the early stages of practice, the organisers deemed it unsafe and Mercedes were prohibited from using it in the race.
Nevertheless, Mercedes went on to take a historic one-two finish at la Sarthe thanks to Lang / Riess and Helfrich / Niedermay.
00006/52 was then converted to lightweight Spyder trim for its next outing: the German Grand Prix Support Race at the Nurburgring on August 3rd. Mercedes took a team of four Spyders to the Nordschleife, all of which ran a new side-exiting exhaust.
Theo Helfrich qualified fifth with 00006/52 and went on to finish the ten lap race in fourth position behind team-mates Lang, Kling and Riess.
The car was then exported to Argentina in 1953 where it disappeared from view.
At some stage it seems likely 00006/52 was damaged by fire as parts from it were sold at auction in 1999.
Today, at least two cars claim the identity of 00006/52, one of which was restored by Mercedes in 2002.
Notable History
Daimler-Benz
Registered W83 3146
Silver
18/05/1952 IND Swiss GP Support Race, Bremgarten (F. Riess) 3rd oa (#22)
Fitted with experimental airbrake
15/06/1952 IND Le Mans 24 Hours (-) T-car (#22)
Converted to Spyder configuration
Silver with Green flashes
03/08/1952 IND German GP Support Race, Nurburgring (T. Helfrich) 4th oa, 4th S3.0 class (#23)
1953 exported to Argentina
1999 fire damaged parts sold at auction
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Mercedes-Benz - https://www.mercedes-benz.com
