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The common automobile magazine Motor Klassik has examined the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe given that 2002, which just a couple days ago turned the most pricey automobile in background, remaining offered for a file 135 million euros. In this article are the impressions of the Motor Klassik gurus from 20 a long time back.
Image: Motor Klassik/Vehicle motor und Sport
The tale is certainly superb. In 2002, on the event of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Mercedes SL, the then editor-in-main of Motor Klassik, Hans-Jörg Götzl, experienced the prospect to drive this distinctive car or truck.
For 50 a long time, the combination of the letters SL (activity and mild) has been synonymous with extraordinary sporting activities autos. But the most appealing SL design of all has only its identify and silhouette in common with its relations since it was not the sports activities version of the SL but utilised the system and the engine from the W196 racing car.
The story penned by Hans-Jorg Gotzl in MotorKlassik virtually 20 many years ago is pretty psychological. It is written from the standpoint of a schoolboy returning property at lunchtime and obtaining a Mercedes SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe travel past him.
“It was a Mercedes, Dad, it had a star in the radiator grille – and it was silver and unbelievably gorgeous and unbelievably loud.” “Maybe an experimental auto, a prototype,” Dad would guess. “No, it appeared somehow… more mature.” His grandfather, who has come specifically for supper, will intervene. “Did the auto have an opening in the appropriate facet of the hood with a wire mesh in entrance of it?” he’ll inquire with a twinkle in his eye. “I assume so, certainly.” “And did it have gullwing doorways?”. “Yes. And spoked wheels?” “Also.” “And was it extremely loud?” “Oh, yeah.” Then Grandpa will beam with pleasure and say, “Honey, it’s tough to believe that, but you have to have satisfied the Uhlenhaut coupe.”
And the grandfather continue to make clear: “Rudolf Uhlenhaut was the head of the tests office at Mercedes-Benz. He was born in 1906 as the son of the Deutsche Financial institution director in London. Uhlenhaut was a proficient engineer and he could push pretty much as rapidly as the finest racing motorists.” “And he built this auto?” “Two of them, actually, just one with a purple interior and 1 with a blue interior.”
Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupe reaches 130 km/h in a lot less than 7 seconds. Most likely with a smoother, extra controllable clutch it would get up to that velocity even more rapidly. And if you maneuver the 5-velocity manual gearbox fast adequate through the fantastic crawl, on the highway you can get the speedometer needle to almost 300 km/h. But without earplugs, you will go deaf.
Why so excessive? The explanation is simple. The Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe is practically nothing much more than a coupe overall body mounted about the generate train of the W196 Formulation 1 auto, two headlights, convert signals, and cloth-trimmed seats.
Grandpa clarifies:
“Before the Next Environment War Mercedes designed exceptionally productive racing cars that feared only competitiveness from Automobile Union.” “Those were the 1st Silver Arrows, weren’t they?” the grandson would ask. “Exactly. And following the war, of class, Mercedes wanted to keep on that tradition. So they developed a sporting activities car or truck initial – the 300 SL with the well known gullwing doorways. That was in 1952, 50 yrs in the past. But the true target was to return to Grand Prix racing in 1954. To obtain this, they crafted a revolutionary racing automobile, the W 196.” “Didn’t Fangio travel it?” asked the junior. “Indeed,” replied the grandfather, who additional that the Mercedes W196 won nine of the 12 races it competed in and Fangio grew to become globe champion in 1954 and 1955.
The W196 engine consisted of two 4-cylinder blocks with a overall displacement of 2.5 litres, experienced immediate injection and desmodromic valve timing which means the valves were being shut by a cam alternatively than the valve spring. This answer was desired since of the substantial revs which ensured improved valve closure and the superior revs presented a respectable 280 HP.
“And how did the Uhlenhaut coupe was born?” Grandpa clarifies: “From the Components 1 car or truck was derived a design with which Mercedes preferred to win the Globe Athletics Car Championship in 1955 – and succeeded. Engineers modified the chassis of the W 196 and manufactured area for a 2nd seat and the engine block was forged from light-weight alloy.
The primary concept remained the similar, but the sports auto, named the 300 SLR, now had a 3-litre, 300 HP engine. With this vehicle, Briton Stirling Moss won his initial race, the Mille Miglia, and established the circuit document that still stands right now. Rudolf Uhlenhaut commissioned a coupé overall body around this prosperous racing sports activities automobile, practically a two-seater Formulation 1, at the time.”
Two examples had been crafted and the case in point in the Motor Klassik check, the a single with the red upholstery is exactly the one particular that offered at auction. This is also the auto that Uhlenhaut drove as a business automobile.
But the driving posture was not comfortable because you experienced to stand with your toes above the cardan shaft with the clutch on the left and the brake and accelerator pedal on the correct. A panel clad in imitation red leather separates the three pedals from each other. The four-spoke steering wheel is positioned considerably forward and can only be attained by quick people with outstretched arms.
In the coupe the mechanical motor noises are infernal. From 5000 rpm, it is a authentic inferno. Rudolf Braunschweig, the previous editor-in-chief of the Swiss Automobil Revue, had the blue-inside coupé at his disposal for exams in 1956, masking several thousand kilometres but with exclusive silencers.
Nonetheless, in the town, the line involving driving pleasure and torture is fluid. Coincidentally, there is practically no car from this period that gives extra satisfaction. In addition to the brutal acceleration, the SLR’s light-weight chassis contributes to the driving enjoyment, not to mention the brakes, whose result is supported by a pump on the rear axle, depending on speed.
With one particular of the two copies bought to a non-public investor it is now much much less probable to see a Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe even in the Mercedes museum.
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