Vehicle belonged to Olympic champion and was kept by the same owner for 53 years; model is considered the most original in the world
A 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing rewrote the history of classic car auctions in Paris. During Artcurial’s Automobile Legends event, the model was sold for €4,979,840 (approximately US$5.4 million), setting a new world record for examples of the W198 series with a steel body.
The value pulverized the category’s previous mark, which was $3.41 million, becoming the first “standard” Gull Wing to break the barriers of $4 million and $5 million in public sales.
The impressive premium is justified by the state of conservation. The vehicle is treated by experts as the most original 300 SL still existing on the planet. Painted in the rare Graphitgrau color (only 106 units were produced in this tone), it maintains the factory paint on almost the entire bodywork and the interior in leather that has never been restored, preserving the patina of almost seven decades.
SEE ALSO:
The origin of the chassis 5500852 adds historical value to the millionaire figure. Delivered from scratch to Parisian industrialist and Olympic champion in clay pigeon shooting, Claude Foussier, the car had only two other guardians. The last of them, Jean Piger, kept the sports car under his care for 53 years.
With only 34,255 km on the odometer, the coupe preserves items that are usually lost in time, such as the first license plate and the original external temperature indicator. Technical inspections confirmed that both the mechanics and the structure remain untouched, with the exception of minimal punctual aesthetic touches.
It is worth mentioning that the record applies to regular production models (steel). The very rare “Alloy” versions (with aluminum body), aimed at competition, play in another financial league: in October 2024, one of these special models was sold for US$ 9.35 million. However, in the overall ranking of all 300 SLs ever publicly traded, this steel example now occupies the honorable third position, proving that originality can be worth as much as technical rarity.
