It seems like the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL of the 1960s was a car that wasn't appreciated as much as it should at its time. After the lightweight special edition that was sold aftersitting in a Santa Monica garage for 40 years, another example of Stuttgart’s iconic sports car surfaced, this time in the Greek city of Piraeus.
The model in question is a 1960 300 SL Roadster with an original hard-top, which was rare at the time since most open-top models were sold with the fabric roof.The 240HP 3.0-liter inline-six-powered Mercedes car belonged to Greek racecar fan Criton Dilaveris who bought it second hand a few years after it was built. Mr Dilaveris died of old age in 1972 and since he left no heirs, all his property along with the car ended up to the city.
It has been sitting in the garage of the Municipality of Piraeus since 1974 and was saved quite a few times from being sent to the scrapyard.
And all for the best as the city decided to auction it off with a starting price of €240,000 ($332,670 US). The highest bidder was German collector Rajna Hildebrandt, who also owns a 300 SL Gullwing and a soft-top Roadster version.
Hildebrand wanted the car so much that he ended up paying €405,000 ($561,303 US). According to the crew over at the Greek auto site High Octane who sent us the story, the photos don’t do justice to the car.
The 300 SL, which has 97,172 km (60,380 miles) on its odometer, is in much better condition than it looks and, as its new owner said, won’t need much work to restore it to its original condition.
Photo & Story credits: Highoctane
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