One to Buy: 1 of 1 ex-Luigi Chinetti / Rudi Klein Aluminium-bodied 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
Of the myriad options Mercedes-Benz offered for the W198 300 SL Gullwing, nothing came close to the prohibitively expensive aluminium body package created for those customers that wanted to use their car in competition.
In addition to a lightweight body which saved 130kg over a comparable steel-bodied variant, these rarely seen Leichtmetallausführung Gullwings also came with Rudge knock-off wheels, Plexiglas side and rear windows, competition springs / dampers and the normally optional 240bhp Sonderteile motor as well.
Despite this intoxicating mix of uprated parts, only 29 of the 1400 Gullwings produced between 1954 and 1957 were completed in Light Metal Version trim and today these cars rank among the most sought after Mercedes-Benz products of all time.
With such a low production number, opportunities to acquire an Aluminium-bodied 300 SL Gullwing on the open market are extremely rare. However, one is set to go under the hammer as part of the remarkable Rudi Klein Junkyard collection with RM Sotheby’s in Los Angeles on October 26th.
Ordered new by 1950 Le Mans winner and North American Ferrari distributor, Luigi Chinetti, chassis 043.5500872 was delivered via the Milan Mercedes-Benz agent Saporiti and then dispatched to the USA. Uniquely, 043.5500872 was the only Aluminium-bodied Gullwing configured in the spectacular colour scheme of Black with Red leather upholstery.
Luigi Chinetti retained his Gullwing until 1976, at which point the by now silver car was purchased as the jewel in Rudi Klein’s collection.
Today, this one-of-one unrestored Aluminium-bodied Gullwing is being offered with its full complement of matching numbers equipment.
Reprinted below is RM Sotheby’s description:
Estimate: $4,500,000 - $6,000,000 USD
Chassis No.: 198.043.5500872
Engine No.: 198.980.5500868
Gearbox No.: 5500854
Body No.: 198.043.5500026
Steering Box No.: 5500891
Rear Axle No.: 5500418
Documents: US Title
The 26th of 29 examples produced; the only “Alloy” Gullwing originally finished in Black over Red leather
Ordered new by legendary Ferrari importer and Le Mans champion, Luigi Chinetti
Acquired by Rudi Klein directly from Chinetti in August 1976
Never driven outside the walls of the Klein “yard” in nearly 50 years
Aside from paint, unrestored with its original interior, body, engine, gearbox, rear axle, steering box, and front spindles
Accompanied by Mercedes-Benz delivery information and fascinating documentation
One of the most exciting post-war Mercedes-Benzes to be offered in decades
Following the competition success of the W194 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana, Mercedes-Benz sought to create a mildly tamed version that customers could drive on the road.
In recognition of the United States as a critical market, and with New York importer Max Hoffman insisting upon the model’s production for his elite clientele, the W198, soon known as the 300 SL and infamously informally as the “Gullwing,” debuted at the 1954 International Motor Sports Show in New York. The 300 SL would, in fact, be the first Mercedes-Benz ever shown overseas before being revealed in its home country.
One year into the production run, Mercedes-Benz’s chief of engineering, Dr. Fritz Nallinger, proposed that a special “competition” variant of the W198 be built, aimed at the privateers and amateur racers who had begun driving their 300 SLs in anger.
In February 1954, Dr. Nallinger convinced the board of directors to go ahead with the special-order model, marketed with classic understatement as Leichtmetallausführung—or Light Metal Version. The “Alloy” Gullwing was not skin-deep, but a full-force competition car—fitted not only with a lightweight body, but with the more powerful NSL engine, sports suspension, 4.11:1 rear axle, Rudge knock-off wheels (lighter than the standard wheels), and even a Plexiglas rear window and side screens. All of this added a remarkable $1,307 to the base price of a standard 300 SL.
The prohibitive cost, as well as competition from more established racing car manufacturers, namely Ferrari, resulted in the Alloy Gullwing being made for only 12 months, and just 29 examples were produced.
LIGHT METAL IN SCHWARZ: THE CHINETTI ‘ALLOY’
Completed on 12 January 1956, chassis number 198.043.5500872 was the 26th alloy-bodied Gullwing off the Untertürkheim production line, and actually the first completed in 1956.
Significantly, it was the sole example of these rarefied cars finished in Schwarz (DB 40), or black, beautifully contrasted with Red leather (1079) interior.
Its data card, a copy of which is included in the file, records all of the usual Leichtmetallausführung glories—alloy body, NSL engine, sports suspension, Rudges, etc.—as well as a windshield washer system, special-order paint (including 1 kilogram additional for touch-ups), and 3.42:1 rear axle ratio.
On 16 January the completed car departed the factory, bound for Milan agent Saporiti. It would be delivered by Saporiti to none other than Luigi Chinetti, the renowned figure who had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a racing driver and gone on to become Ferrari’s North American importer and owner of the famous North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.).
It is believed that Chinetti commissioned his Alloy Gullwing in order to compare the Mercedes offering against his then-current Ferrari stock, and that, shortly after he accepted delivery, it was sent directly to his headquarters in New York. Apparently taken with the car, he retained it for some 20 years, at some point in his ownership choosing to refinish it in silver but otherwise leaving it largely alone.
NEVER SHOWN
Rudi Klein met Luigi Chinetti while attending the 1976 Daytona 500, and there agreed to purchase the Alloy Gullwing for the sum of $30,000; Rudi placed a $3,000 deposit with one of Chinetti’s employees at the race.
An invoice from Luigi Chinetti Motors, dated 30 August 1976, is present in the history file, indicating that the final payment before delivery on 11 September was due to be made; however, further letters from Hagwood Trucking indicate that the car was not actually collected from Chinetti until early March 1977.
Photographs in the file show the Gullwing as acquired by Rudi, in silver with its original red leather interior, and in a letter Rudi notes that the car was “sound [with] no damage. Equipment on car includes radio, spare, etc. and knock-offs.” A further photograph depicts the car finally arriving on the premises of Porche Foreign Auto.
The Klein sons believe that the Alloy Gullwing was the only prize among Rudi’s collection of various significant vehicles that he never drove or exhibited. Upon its receipt from Chinetti, the car was tucked away inside the central building of the junkyard, and until its display at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in 2024, remained there.
Over time, as was its owner’s wont, a few pieces were sold off, the front bumpers, the shift knob, the tool kit, the jack, and the spare wheel among them. Yet, with 73,387 kilometers (~45,600 miles) recorded at the time of cataloguing, the car remains, unimpeachably, spectacularly genuine: retaining its original, matching-numbers engine, gearbox, rear axle, steering box, and front spindles, all numbered and correlating to the data card; its four road wheels, all with matching date codes; and its factory alloy bodywork, with the two digits of the body number, 26, found on both doors, the edge of the dashboard, and in the interior roof panel. Extremely few of these oft-raced, oft-wrecked competition cars led such an apparently benign life, and have survived so well.
In fact, the only collision damage readily evident on the car is a prominent dent in the rear: At some point in 1981, Rudi apparently backed into the Gullwing with his forklift.
While not technically “lost,” having been listed with Rudi Klein in multiple 300 SL rosters and registers, chassis number 198.043.5500872 has, like so many vehicles in this storied location, been inaccessible to the world. In fact, it may well have been the most secretive vehicle in a collection legendary for its introversion, having actually remained within the walls of Porche Foreign Auto—and, in fact, largely within one building on the property—for nearly 50 years.
It is now released as the final unrestored “Alloy” Gullwing, first owned by Luigi Chinetti, the sole example delivered in black—a car with what can safely be called an unduplicatable history.
Just mind the forklift.
