A Blast From The Past: The AMG 300 SL
There’s not been a whole heap of news this week, so we decided to take a look at a cool restomod project from the past. The project in question is a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, that famed Gullwing icon, which was restomodded by Mercedes’ partners-in-performance, AMG. Between 1996 and 2009, 11 of these were made, and they were probably some of the highest-end restomods ever created. The 300 SL is not a cheap car, typically selling for over $1 million. Nevertheless, for some, owning a collector’s item like this isn’t enough. If you’re wealthy enough to say, find several million between your couch’s cushions, you could reasonably assume they could be improved.
The first one of these cars was commissioned by the Sultan of Brunei. Their bodies and chassis were left as stock: you wouldn’t take a paintbrush and try and improve a Da Vinci painting, would you? Everything else got a going over though. Take the engine: the originals came with a straight-six, and age was not kind to it in the power stakes. To make it suitable for the new era of sports cars, an AMG six-liter V8 was installed, which put out 380 horsepower and 427 ft-lbs of torque. The handling was also improved with disc brakes, five-link rear suspension, Bilstein shocks, power steering, and a four-speed auto transmission.
Inside, the interior was refreshed with Nappa leather and Alcantara, carbon fiber panels, a Sony CD changer, and an HWA wheel. One of the eleven was auctioned off at Monaco back in 2014, which should tell you something about the expected pricetag. AMG took the 300 SL Gullwing and made it fly like an eagle.
