The Return of the Gullwing

THE HISTORY:

There are some things in life which makes you so emotionally attached to them that the very mention of their names makes you brim with joy. Mercedes-Benz 300SL is one such automobile which makes me fall head over heels for it. This beauty was produced only from 1955-1957 and it had that unique "Gullwing" doors which makes it unmistakable with anything else on the road. This along with many technical firsts, short life and low production quantities makes this car one of the rarest and most collectible Mercedes-Benz models of all time.

Among the technological innovations that the car had for its time, the most important was that this was the first road car to feature direct fuel injection to the combustion chamber. The car was built on a Tubular Chassis, an unique architecture which gave birth to the car's iconic and legendary "Gullwing" doors as a part of the chassis was running through what would have been the lower half of standard doors. When I get to know these things, sometimes I wonder whether the guys who worked (and are working) at Mercedes-Benz have brains made of some extra-terrestrial stuff because most of their present and past models would have something which was not seen before in cars but, henceforth would gradually find its way into most of the cars on road.

THE LEGEND IS BACK:

First of all, credit goes to Mercedes-Benz for refreshing my mind with memories of an iconic car. Not that I have completely forgot it but this made me go back and have a look at all the pictures of the car and its details again. The event I am talking about is the recent launch of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The astonishing fact about this new car is that it has brought back with it the legendary "Gullwing" doors.Though the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and its Roadster variant was based on the 1955 300SL, it can't be termed as a true successor because those models came shod with scissor doors instead of the legend's wings.

As soon as I saw the news of its launch, I have not even had the patience to see its specifications and other features. All I did was just clicked on the pictures and reveled in its beauty. I can pledge all my wealth and tell anyone that this ought to be the most interesting and stylish Benz for quite some time now as they have been launching uninspiring and staid models in amazing continuity. All said and done, just click on the thumbnails to revel in it's beauty and experience a kind of adrenaline rush that this car infuses into your body. The long hood makes it look fast even when standing still and the "Gullwings" still has the same charm and aura that it had around 60 years back.

Hats off to Mercedes-Benz for designing such a retro-looking stunner and making us car fanatics revel in its glory.