One to Buy: ex-Edoardo Kovacs-Jones 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
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When Mercedes unveiled their Gullwing-doored 300 SL at the New York Motor Show in February 1954, wealthy buyers from all four corners of the globe were suddenly able to go and order a spectacular state-of-art supercar from a main dealer at least semi-locally. From the Americas to Oceania and back to the Old World, Le Mans-winning pedigree and performance was now on offer with a renowned international dealer network close by.
As a consequence, during the W198 Gullwing’s three year lifespan, 1400 were produced whereas Ferrari only got into the low hundreds with all their different flavours of rival two-seat Coupes and Berlinettas.
One region that Mercedes managed to exploit like no other manufacturer was South America. During 1951, the German firm opened a factory to build utility vehicles in Argentina while later on Mercedes benefited enormously from the ambassadorial role played by South America’s greatest sporting hero of the time, five-time F1 and former Sports Car World Champion, Juan Manuel Fangio.
One car that ventured far from Stuttgart is this ‘one-of-four in Blue-Grey’ Gullwing delivered new to Edouardo Kovacs-Jones in Chile and which is currently on offer at the DK Engineering showroom in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire.
Kovacs configured his car with Rudge wheels, Steel Blue leather upholstery, a Becker Le Mans radio, a set of fitted luggage, a spare engine, ten spare tyres and 1kg of extra paint.
Soon after delivery, Kovacs-Jones and his co-driver, Raul Jaras, made the trip from Valparaiso in Chile to Buenos Aires in Argentina (taking in 1700km of mostly dirt roads across the Andes) in order to contest the opening round of the 1956 World Sportscar Championship: the Buenos Aires 1000km.
Remarkably, against a field of works Ferrari and Maserati prototypes, Kovacs-Jones and Jaras finished sixth overall taking third in the class for three-litre Sports cars. The Mercedes was only raced sparingly thereafter. Today it’s being offered in beautifully restored condition back in that handsome original colour scheme.
