VIN: the works Mercedes-Benz W196S 300 SLR chassis 0007/55
History of chassis 0007/55
Chassis 0007/55 was one of nine 300 SLRs assembled by Mercedes-Benz for the 1955 season. It debuted at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours where Mercedes created a sensation by adding an air brake to each of their three cars.
The air brake consisted of a hinged flap operated by hydraulic rams controlled from a lever on the dash. The flap automatically lowered when second gear was engaged.
Chassis 0007/55 was entered at Le Mans for Mercedes’ number one driver pairing: Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss.
The opening couple of hours saw a tremendous battle between Eugenio Castellotti’s Ferrari, Fangio’s Mercedes and Mike Hawthorn’s Jaguar.
Fangio had made a poor start as his trouser leg snagged on the gear lever. At the end of lap one, he was 14th.
With one hour gone, the Argentine had risen to third.
On lap 16, Hawthorn’s Jaguar took the lead and Fangio moved into second. The pair thereafter set a blistering pace and exchanged the lead several times.
After two hours, the top three was Hawthorn, Fangio, Castellotti.
Half an hour later, tragedy occurred.
Heading down the pit straight, Hawthorn pulled to the right-hand side of the track and started to brake for his stop in front of Austin-Healey driver, Lance Macklin. Macklin swerved out from behind the slowing Jaguar straight into the path of Pierre Levegh’s SLR.
Levegh ploughed into the back of Macklin’s car which acted as a ramp and launched the Mercedes into the air. It skipped over a protective earth bank at 125mph and barrel rolled into the crowd.
Levegh was thrown from the car and fatally fractured his skull. 83 spectators were killed in what remains motor racing’s most catastrophic crash.
Soon afterwards, Fangio stopped for Moss to take over.
The Mercedes crew considered withdrawing, but with the death toll still unknown, they decided to consult the directors at Stuttgart. This proved difficult as all the telephone lines were down as a result of the accident. The organisers themselves decided that nothing would be gained by stopping the race.
Moss went into the lead followed closely by Ivor Bueb who had taken over from Hawthorn. Both were a lap clear of the third place Castellotti / Marzotto Ferrari which retired shortly before 8pm.
After six hours of racing, Fangio / Moss led the works D-types of Hawthorn / Bueb, Rolt / Hamilton and Beumann / Dewis.
By midnight, the SLR had a two-lap lead over the second place Jaguar, but at 1:45am, the order came for Mercedes to withdraw while holding first and third positions.
Following the Le Mans disaster, a whole raft of events were cancelled, including the notoriously dangerous Carrera Panamericana.
Mercedes decided they would abandon motor sport at the end of the 1955 season.
Back in April, the green light had been given to develop an SLR Coupe for use in long-distance races. Mercedes-Benz motorsport chief, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, ordered a pair of the new cars and had planned to race them in the end-of-season Carrera.
Despite the decision to quit motor sport, development of the SLR Coupe continued as a useful R&D exercise. After Le Mans, chassis 0007/55 became the first of two SLRs reconfigured as such.
Arguably even more beautiful than the original Roadster, the Gullwinged 300 SLR Coupe was the ultimate Gran Turismo of its day.
Registered W22 6962, chassis 0007/55 first appeared in public as the T-car for the Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad (August 7th). It then carried out the same role at the Dundrod Tourist Trophy (September 18th) and the Targa Florio (October 16th).
Chassis 0007/55 subsequently became Rudolf Uhlenhaut’s company car.
At one stage, Uhlenhaut was late for a meeting and travelled the 137 mile route from Munich to Stuttgart in just over an hour.
Journalists from Automobil Revue and Motor Trend road tested 0007/55 over the winter of 1956-1957 and were suitably impressed. Following a high-speed session on an empty autobahn at 4am one morning, the former wrote: "We are driving a car which barely takes a second to overtake the rest of the traffic and for which 120mph on a quiet motorway is little more than walking pace. With its unflappable handling through corners, it treats the laws of centrifugal force with apparent disdain."
0007/55 was later retired from active duty and remains part of the Mercedes-Benz factory collection.
Notable History
Daimler-Benz AG
Registered W21 6169
12/06/1955 WSC Le Mans 24 Hours (J.M. Fangio / S. Moss) WDN (#19)
Converted to Coupe specification
Re-registered W22 6962
07/08/1955 IND Swedish GP, Kristianstad (R. Uhlenhaut) T-car (#15)
18/09/1955 WSC Dundrod Tourist Trophy (J.M. Fangio / K. Kling / S. Moss / W. von Trips) T-car (#T1)
16/10/1955 WSC Targa Florio (J.M. Fangio / D. Titterington / K. Kling / S. Moss / P. Collins) T-car (#-)
Retained as the personal transportation of Rudolf Uhlenhaut
12/12/1956 road tested by Automobil Revue
04/1957 road tested in Motor Trend
Retained by Daimler-Benz
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Mercedes-Benz - https://www.mercedes-benz.com
