Cars & Motor

The history of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL "Gullwing" with the registration number "EI-DR 1"

Quelle: AutoMotoTV (Glomex)

The 300 SL was built from 1954 to 1957. Only 1,400 vehicles are made at the Sindelfingen plant, largely using manufacturing methods. The "Gullwing" is one of the most famous Mercedes-Benz vehicles - and was voted "Sports Car of the Century" in 1999. The vehicle with the license plate "EI-DR 1" was privately owned for 39 years until BRABUS GmbH bought it in 2020 and found that it was the exact model vehicle for the "Cars" series of pictures. This "Gullwing" was made in 1955 in the color combination silver-grey (DB 180) with blue leather (DB 355) and Rudge wheels. During this time in private hands, a photo of the 300 SL with the number plate "EI-DR 1" ended up in a sports car book. According to research by BRABUS GmbH, Andy Warhol used the photo of this vehicle as a template for the first motif in his "Cars" series. The artist has never seen the vehicle itself in the original. BRABUS restored the vehicle according to manufacturer specifications. An expertise from Mercedes-Benz Classic confirms the authenticity of the 300 SL. Mercedes-Benz Classic regularly prepares expert opinions on high-quality classics from the Mercedes-Benz brand. The detailed contents of these reports include a description of the individual vehicle's history and an assessment of the vehicle's authenticity. All expertise is based on extensive research on the vehicle itself and in the extensive archives of Mercedes-Benz AG