One to Buy: ex-Claude Foussier / Jean Piger 34,000km unrestored 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
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At Artcurial’s sale in Paris on January 27th, one of the most fascinating 300 SL Gullwings we have encountered will be going under the hammer: chassis 198.040.6500019.
Ordered through the French Mercedes-Benz distributor in Paris, Garage Royal Elysees, chassis ‘6500019’ was commissioned by renowned industrialist and sportsman, Claude Foussier.
In addition to having been Director of Pernod-Ricard and CEO of Societe Parisienne de Boissons Gazeuses (SPBG - the European importer of Coca-Cola), Foussier was an expert marksman. His lengthy clay pigeon record included being a member of the European championship-winning team six times between 1956 and 1962 plus participation in two Olympic Games (Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964).
Foussier’s 300 SL was configured with all the sports options available at the time to include the high performance 240bhp Sonderteile engine, competition springs and dampers and centre-lock Rudge wheels. He also ordered Graphite Grey paint, Natural upholstery, full leather trim, a two-piece luggage set, a lengthened steering column, 3.42:1 rear axle ratio, sealed-beam headlights and a rear fog lamp.
Dispatched from Stuttgart on January 26th 1956, chassis ‘6500019’ was subsequently registered at Foussier’s Jean Walter-designed Art Deco apartment in Paris: 2 Boulevard Suchet.
The Mercedes was kept in the garage of the apartment building until March 28th 1961 when Foussier sold it to car dealer, Roger Loyet. Chassis ‘6500019’ was replaced by a handsome green Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta that Foussier also tailored to his exact specification (chassis 2283 GT).
On May 31st 1961, Loyet sold the grey Gullwing to another Parisian industrialist, Jean Piger, who would retain it until 2014.
In November 1984, Piger relocated to his Chateau in Beaulieu, Haute-Loire, where the 300 SL resided alongside a Ferrari 500 Mondial, a Bugatti 57 Atalante, a Ferrari 512 BB and a Jaguar E-type. Having not run for eleven years, chassis ‘6500019’ was sold to a German collector who stored it in a protective bubble down in his basement.
Ten years later the Gullwing found a new home with a Parisian custodian who resided at the very same 2 Boulevard Suchet address as Claude Foussier all those years ago. The grey 300 SL shared garage space with several Mercedes Black Series models and a 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet which had also been supplied new in Paris. Once again, the new owner did not touch the car and was instead simply content to look at it each day.
Having recently undergone an extremely detailed inspection, chassis ‘6500019’ was found to be in staggeringly original condition.
According to Artcurial: “Apart from slightly thicker paint on the right rear section of the body below the bumper and a touch-up below the passenger door, the entire car has kept its original paint from when it left the factory. The internal numbers and the hidden numbers on the body panels as well as the mechanical components are completely and 100% in accordance with the original numbers, even those engraved on the keys! Naturally, this evaluation report is available on request to any interested parties.
Never stripped down, never restored, still with its original paintwork, this Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’, equipped with rare period options including its NSL engine, and naturally ‘matching numbers’, which spent 53 years with its second owner, is offered in absolutely original condition having covered just 34,000km.
It is sold with one of the original fitted suitcases (the other having been lost during the car’s lifetime), its Mercedes-Benz tool kit and a specially-made aluminium part to balance the wheels (the first we have seen supplied with a 300 SL). It comes too with its patinated Natural leather interior, never touched or cleaned, complete with an exterior temperature gauge in front of the passenger (again something we have never seen on this model), its very first numberplate with the number from 1956 which has never been changed, and, above all, its layer of dust, that dust which has protected it from any degradation.”
