The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was based on the Formula One car (Mercedes-Benz W196), not the other sports cars named Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
Of the nine W196s chassis built, Mercedes motorsport chief Rudolf Uhlenhaut had ordered two to be set aside for modification into a hybrid between the SLR and the SL, featuring a slightly widened version of the SLR's chassis with enclosed bodywork for aerodynamic purposes. For testing, and in preparation for a possible Mercedes participation in the 1956 race season, two road-legal SLRs were built. After Mercedes' planned withdrawal from competitive motorsport at the end of 1955, the programme was abandoned, leaving Uhlenhaut to use one of the cars as a company car.
This Uhlenhaut Coupé was regarded as the world's fastest car in the 1950s, and it is rumoured that, running late for a meeting, Uhlenhaut exploited the unlimited autobahns to make today’s' two-and-a-half-hour journey from Munich to Stuttgart in just over an hour
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Quelle: SCALEXTRIC |
