Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe review by Motor Klassik

The vintage vehicle journal Motor Klassik has analyzed the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe because 2002, which just a couple days in the past grew to become the most expensive vehicle in historical past, staying bought for a report 135 million euros. In this article are the impressions of the Motor Klassik gurus from 20 several years back.

Photo: Motor Klassik/Car motor und Sport 

The tale is unquestionably wonderful. In 2002, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Mercedes SL, the then editor-in-main of Motor Klassik, Hans-Jörg Götzl, had the prospect to travel this special vehicle.

For 50 several years, the combination of the letters SL (sport and light) has been synonymous with extraordinary athletics autos. But the most appealing SL model of all has only its title and silhouette in typical with its relatives for the reason that it was not the sports activities variation of the SL but used the system and the motor from the W196 racing vehicle.

The story created by Hans-Jorg Gotzl in MotorKlassik just about 20 several years back is very emotional. It is composed from the perspective of a schoolboy returning household at lunchtime and acquiring a Mercedes SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe push past him.

“It was a Mercedes, Father, it had a star in the radiator grille – and it was silver and amazingly beautiful and amazingly loud.” “Maybe an experimental automobile, a prototype,” Dad would guess. “No, it seemed somehow… more mature.” His grandfather, who has come primarily for evening meal, will intervene. “Did the automobile have an opening in the suitable side of the hood with a wire mesh in entrance of it?” he’ll talk to with a twinkle in his eye. “I think so, of course.” “And did it have  gullwing doorways?”. “Yes. And spoked wheels?” “Also.” “And was it quite loud?” “Oh, yeah.” Then Grandpa will beam with pleasure and say, “Honey, it is challenging to believe, but you ought to have met the Uhlenhaut coupe.”

And the grandfather proceed to clarify: “Rudolf Uhlenhaut was the head of the testing section at Mercedes-Benz. He was born in 1906 as the son of the Deutsche Bank director in London. Uhlenhaut was a gifted engineer and he could generate virtually as fast as the ideal racing drivers.” “And he created this auto?” “Two of them, really, just one with a pink inside and one particular with a blue interior.”

Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupe reaches 130 km/h in much less than 7 seconds. Potentially with a smoother, more controllable clutch it would get up to that velocity even quicker. And if you maneuver the 5-pace handbook gearbox speedy ample by the wonderful crawl, on the freeway you can acquire the speedometer needle to virtually 300 km/h. But without the need of earplugs, you will go deaf.

Why so severe? The clarification is basic. The Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe is practically nothing much more than a coupe physique mounted around the travel teach of the W196 Formula 1 car or truck, two headlights, switch signals, and cloth-trimmed seats.

Grandpa describes:
“Before the Second World War Mercedes developed amazingly effective racing vehicles that feared only competitors from Car Union.” “Those ended up the to start with Silver Arrows, weren’t they?” the grandson would request. “Exactly. And soon after the war, of class, Mercedes required to go on that tradition. So they developed a sporting activities auto initially – the 300 SL with the well known gullwing doorways. That was in 1952, 50 several years in the past. But the actual objective was to return to Grand Prix racing in 1954. To attain this, they created a groundbreaking racing car or truck, the W 196.” “Didn’t Fangio travel it?” questioned the junior. “Indeed,” replied the grandfather, who included that the Mercedes W196 won 9 of the 12 races it competed in and Fangio grew to become planet winner in 1954 and 1955.

The W196 motor consisted of two 4-cylinder blocks with a total displacement of 2.5 litres, had immediate injection and desmodromic valve timing that means the valves ended up shut by a cam rather than the valve spring. This remedy was wanted simply because of the large revs which ensured greater valve closure and the substantial revs furnished a respectable 280 HP.

“And how did the Uhlenhaut coupe was born?” Grandpa clarifies: “From the Components 1 car or truck was derived a product with which Mercedes wished to earn the Planet Athletics Auto Championship in 1955 – and succeeded. Engineers modified the chassis of the W 196 and built area for a next seat and the motor block was solid from light alloy.

The primary idea remained the identical, but the athletics motor vehicle, named the 300 SLR, now had a three-litre, 300 HP motor. With this motor vehicle, Briton Stirling Moss won his very first race, the Mille Miglia, and established the circuit file that nevertheless stands currently. Rudolf Uhlenhaut commissioned a coupé body all-around this prosperous racing sports activities auto, almost a two-seater Components 1, at the time.”

Two illustrations were designed and the illustration in the Motor Klassik test, the just one with the crimson upholstery is accurately the one particular that marketed at auction. This is also the car that Uhlenhaut drove as a company car or truck.

But the driving placement was uncomfortable since you had to stand with your toes above the cardan shaft with the clutch on the still left and the brake and accelerator pedal on the suitable. A panel clad in imitation red leather-based separates the a few pedals from each other. The 4-spoke steering wheel is positioned much forward and can only be reached by brief people today with outstretched arms.

In the coupe the mechanical motor noises are infernal. From 5000 rpm, it is a genuine 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, covering quite a few thousand kilometres but with exclusive silencers.

Still, in the town, the line in between driving pleasure and torture is fluid. Coincidentally, there is practically no motor vehicle from this period that features far more enjoyment. In addition to the brutal acceleration, the SLR’s light-weight chassis contributes to the driving enjoyment, not to mention the brakes, whose influence is supported by a pump on the rear axle, depending on speed.

With 1 of the two copies bought to a personal investor it is now substantially a lot less possible to see a Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe even in the Mercedes museum.