18 replies to this topic

[Thomas300SL]

Can somebody help please? I am looking for information on a white 300sl Gullwing with yellow sills that was raced in the USA.

[RA Historian]

Can somebody help please? I am looking for information on a white 300sl Gullwing with yellow sills that was raced in the USA.

I would imagine that someone here may have a line on what you seek. But could you give us a bit more to go on? Area of the country, possible drivers, approximate years the car was raced, and so on. It would narrow matters down considerably from the needle in a haystack situation initially presented.
Tom

[Thomas300SL]

I would imagine that someone here may have a line on what you seek. But could you give us a bit more to go on? Area of the country, possible drivers, approximate years the car was raced, and so on. It would narrow matters down considerably from the needle in a haystack situation initially presented.
Tom

Dear Tom

The car was brought into the USA by Lt Col Harkins of the US Air Force. The car was silver. Harkins bought the car from King Hussein of Jordan about 1959. The VIN is 1980406500069. The original delivery document of Mercedes shows Hussein as the first owner. This is documented in the Gullwing Group files. The car was silver and then resprayed white with yellow sills. Hussein raced the car which he ordered with an NSL spec engine in numerous local middle east races and hill climbs.

Harkins drove the car in events statesside. He later sold the car to a professor of the Maryland University who parked the car in his garden in 1970 and left it subject to the elements until 2005 when he heirs found the car with an equally rusted 300 sl roadster next to it.

In the garage was a meticulous 190 e 2.5 Diesel. ;-)


That is as much as I have


regards

Thomas

[RA Historian]

Hmmmm... Let's surmise that it was the very end of the fifties, start of the sixties, likely in the Eastern US. That narrows it down considerably and increases the chances that someone here will remember it and have some pictures. We shall see!
Tom

[MattKellett]

Hmmmm... Let's surmise that it was the very end of the fifties, start of the sixties, likely in the Eastern US. That narrows it down considerably and increases the chances that someone here will remember it and have some pictures. We shall see!
Tom

And, I predict that Frank Barrett will have your answer

There,s not much that Frank doesn't know about Mercedes in the USA


Matt

[fbarrett]

Gawd, now you've really put the pressure on me!

Frank

Edited by fbarrett, 07 September 2009 - 23:12.

[MattKellett]

Gawd, now you've really put the pressure on me!

Frank

oppsssssssssssssss

[Carter Hendricks]

I had a photocopy of a print I think by Tom Burnside of a Gullwing and
an Aurelia in a sweeper somewhere. I don't remember much about that
Mercedes and can't find the copy but...

--Carter

[fbarrett]

Thomas:

Will look into this when I get back from a week-long trip on the 23rd or so. You started with the right source, the Gullwing Register, but as you saw, it doesn't go into detail about racing.

Frank

[Ray Bell]

While on the subject...

When Mike Argetsinger sent me the video of the early days of Elkhart Lake, I was staggered by the number of 300SL Gullwings that took to the track there. There must have been at least half a dozen in one race, which was more 300SL Gullwings than ever made it into Australia until the '70s.

How many of them were raced in the US?

[don hodgdon]

Speaking of Gullwings...does anyone know what has become of Don Ricardo's Bonneville Gullwing?

[HaleMerced]

Speaking of Gullwings...does anyone know what has become of Don Ricardo's Bonneville Gullwing?

Last I saw of it was at Pebble Beach in 2004. It was owned by Thomas Taffet. Some how I ended up with his strait pipe exhaust that he used on his Bonneville runs. Came with a bunch of parts I bought.

Edited by HaleMerced, 01 May 2011 - 19:47.

[Ray Bell]

Looks like we've got an expert on the subject here...

Welcome to the forum!

[HaleMerced]

Looks like we've got an expert on the subject here...

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome Ray. 300SL is what I do for a living. www.w194.com Mark

[fbarrett]

Friends:

Re answering the original question, dozens and dozens of 300SLs were raced in the U.S., at least until the Corvettes got fast. A photo of the car in question would help, but research would involve looking through hundreds of issues of SCCA's Sports Car magazine and possibly DBAG's In Aller Welt, which may have had photos of King Hussein with it. SCCA's archives are not exactly accessible, but perhaps the Motor Racing Research Center (?name) in Watkins Glen could help. Run a photo and description in The Gull Wing Group's 300 StarLetter and ask for more information.

Hussein was interesting automotively; in 1976 he traded his Porsche 904 for a new 911 Turbo. If it was an even trade, he probably regretted it later...

Frank

[HaleMerced]

Friends:

Re answering the original question, dozens and dozens of 300SLs were raced in the U.S., at least until the Corvettes got fast. A photo of the car in question would help, but research would involve looking through hundreds of issues of SCCA's Sports Car magazine and possibly DBAG's In Aller Welt, which may have had photos of King Hussein with it. SCCA's archives are not exactly accessible, but perhaps the Motor Racing Research Center (?name) in Watkins Glen could help. Run a photo and description in The Gull Wing Group's 300 StarLetter and ask for more information.

Hussein was interesting automotively; in 1976 he traded his Porsche 904 for a new 911 Turbo. If it was an even trade, he probably regretted it later...

Frank

Frank, the King Hussein Gullwing was recently restored (around two years ago) in Germany by HK- Engineering.

[RA Historian]

A- SCCA's archives are not exactly accessible,

B- but perhaps the Motor Racing Research Center (?name) in Watkins Glen could help.

A- Ah, you've tried it too!

B- International Motor Racing Research Center. Michael Argetsinger's father, Cameron, had one of the very special ex-works racing 300-SLs in the mid fifties. Michael has reported on it on this forum a while ago. I suspect that he has quite a bit of knowledge about 300-SLs...

Tom

[fbarrett]

Tom:

Yes, I've tried for years!

There's a topic for small book: 300SLs in U.S. racing. If I wanted to work for nothing for a year, lose thousands on the deal, and watch them multiply on the shelf, I'd write, publish, and sell it...

Frank

[arttidesco]

I don't know if this will get you any closer to any photographs of a 300 SL Gullwing with yellow sills but a Bill Harkins raced an MG at Thompson in 1953 might he have risen to Lt Col by 1959 ?