There were more valuable cars in attendance, faster ones with race history, rarer ones with more award ribbons in the front seat, but the authenticity of this 300SL separated it from the roster of noteworthy machines on display—to some, not even perfectly preserved, never-restored cars can compete with the allure of authentic patina. Even if you'd prefer everything neat and new, I think it goes without saying that there's a certain intrigue earned with a couple of scars. A few pieces of pitted chrome and a touch of crustiness around the edges of the paintwork, these things aren't enough to warrant an erasure of originality in our opinion, and thankfully for other fans of rock chips the owners of this Merc seem to agree.
Coated in a silty layer of dust kicked up by the foot and tire traffic, the car took on an aura of fresh exhumation, looking as it did like something just pushed out of some codger's mostly-dilapidated shed. The knock-off Rudges suit the look perfectly, at least in comparison to the paint-matched hubcaps that were more commonly fitted to the 300SLs. The raw, pure-function look of the Rudges lends itself to the car's lack of nonsense. The fender decals told us the owners of this rare bird are the Valkenburgs, and while they were out and about elsewhere during our impromptu photoshoot and not available for questions, the name should be familiar to those in Gullwing circles, as Benny as regarded as one of Europe's foremost experts on the model, commonly brought in to assess cars going up for auctions and such.
It makes sense then, that his car would be a highly original specimen, and in a rare configuration to boot. The color is a stunning green that in the more sun-faded places verges on teal, and the lack of even shine made for some fascinating textures along the sculptural bodywork that never seems to age. For those of us born so many years after this car, it is perpetually hard to place this thing in the 1950s, so ahead of its time was the SL. When many cars of the era (sports or otherwise) were characterized by curvy but still somewhat frumpy shells, Mercedes-Benz went ahead and showed them what the '60s would look like years before they arrived. The cab-back design and the taught pontoon elements would be staples of Italian and to a lesser extent American sports car design in the years that followed, but the Gullwing was never buried under a pile of its direct imitators and indirect offspring, such is the staying power of a truly groundbreaking automobile.
