The new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, which world premiere was on 15 September 2009 at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt/Main, embodies a blend of consummate automotive fascination and high tech.

The super sports car delivers a compelling mix of purist styling, consistent lightweight design and superior driving dynamics. At the same time, the SLS fully lives up to all the expectations of hallmark Mercedes everyday practicality and optimum safety. In essence, the new 'Gullwing' offers the ideal synthesis of the strengths of Mercedes-Benz and AMG.

The reinterpretation of the legendary 'Gullwing' is launched in spring 2010. The sales price is EUR 177,310 (incl. 19% VAT).

1957 to 1963: the Gullwing becomes a roadster

• 300 SL: with direct petrol injection and aluminum bodywork
• 230 SL: sixties-style elegance
• 350 SL: timeless styling and perfect engineering for 18 years of success
• 300 SL: premiere for automatic roll-over bar and integral seats

Exactly 50 years ago, on June 15, 1951, the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz reached a decision which was to have far-reaching implications: Mercedes cars would return to the racing circuits of the world. As it was to prove, this was a most fortuitous decision, since as well as providing the Mercedes-Benz brand with two Formula 1 world championship titles in the nineteen-fifties, it was also the foundation of a continuing fascination: the legend of the SL.

Very few combinations of letters have achieved the charismatic appeal of the name "SL" – actually conceived simply as an abbreviation for "sporty" and "light". These two letters today represent the authentication of a unique Mercedes tradition and vouchsafe the continuation of a living, pulsating legend.

The legend began in the grey post-war period. Purses were empty, the Autobahns virtually deserted and there were more than enough parking spaces to go round. Policemen stood at crossroads directing traffic, because there were hardly any traffic lights. But there were visions; one of which was to see the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL as a pure racing car. As Dr Kurt Obländer, one-time head of engine development and testing at Mercedes-Benz, recalls: "The 300 SL was a sporty vehicle, through and through, designed in the early nineteen-fifties to carry on from the great pre-war racing successes of the brand." To begin with, there was no ambition to go into series production. The 300 SL achieved its sporting objectives in bravura style. Although – due to cost implications and shortage of time – only the W 186 Saloon (the famous "three hundred") had been available as the technical basis, the Mercedes sports car was successful right from the start.

Rudolf Uhlenhaut, who had given vital impetus to the 300 SL project, was to remember later "We took the standard engine from the 300 and built a tubular frame and aluminium body around it." The concept proved a good one and, in 1952, an SL was already second across the finishing line of the famous Mille Miglia rally. But the true charisma of the two letters really became apparent later that same year, when the 300 SL took part in the Carrera Panamericana. The magnificent double victory of Karl Kling and his co-driver Hans Klenk and Hermann Lang and Erwin Grupp in this notorious long-distance race made the gullwing Coupé the focus of attention, once and for all, especially after the 300 SL had been fastest in Berne, at the Le Mans 24 Hours and on the Nürburgring all in the same year.

Impetus from the US

Despite its success on the racing circuit, the 300 SL as a road-going sports car – and thus as the nucleus of all SLs -was almost never built. However, from the US came a message from an Austrian gentleman, Max Hoffmann, still known even today by the nickname of "Maxie", who wanted to buy from Daimler-Benz cars that didn't exist. This brilliant salesman, with a real sense for trends and what might become such, was convinced that he could sell 1000 road-going versions of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL on the North American continent. After all, the sports car had become famous over the other side of the "pond" as well, thanks to its racing successes. Hoffman's arguments soon convinced the Stuttgart company's Board of Management and the road-going version of the 300 SL (internal code W 198) was thus revealed to the public gaze at the international motor show in New York on February 6, 1954.

1957 to 1963: the Gullwing becomes a Roadster

Three years later, in March 1957, the Gullwing was succeeded by the Roadster, which ultimately went on to be produced until 1963. Once again, the US market was a deciding factor in this decision, for powerful, open cars were all the rage there. From 1958 onwards the Roadster, whose long, vertically arranged headlamps also differentiated it from the Coupé, was available with a hardtop as well. This was the foundation for the Mercedes-Benz philosophy that an SL should be open but, at the same time, suitable for driving in all weathers.

The 300 SL was a sensation in both versions and proved to have a unique power of attraction, with motor enthusiasts from all over the world wanting to buy one. The well-known German motoring journalist and author Fritz B. Buch commented succinctly but accurately, "It has lodged itself in my heart." It is therefore hardly surprising that the Coupé version was honoured with the title of "Sports Car of the Century" at the end of its own century.

The 300 SL was a jewel on wheels. International celebrities shared this view and were delighted to be seen with the Mercedes-Benz sports car. Film star Zsa Zsa Gabor bought herself a 300 SL, as did the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst; whilst aristocratic heads such as the Duke of Edinburgh and Shah Reza Pahlevi were as proud to drive the SL as the King of Rock'n Roll himself, Elvis Presley.

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL was not just an object of popularity and respect: for many it represented, quite simply, the epitome of the modern sports car. 215 hp from an engine displacement of three litres and a, for those times, incredible top speed of over 250 km/h – depending on the rear axle ratio - served to prove its true sporting ancestry. Dr. Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the "father" of the SL, made it quite clear when he said, "Feel free to consider the SL models as sports cars – as long as the emphasis is on Sport."

Direct petrol injection for 210 hp of power

The 300 SL was, to its core, a high-tech product in the innovative tradition of Mercedes-Benz. From the basic straight six-cylinder engine of the Saloon, which produced just 115 horsepower, the racing engineers had bred a high-performance unit. To get it up initially to 210 hp at 5760 rpm, they developed for the very first time a direct petrol injection system for a series model with a four-stroke engine. The injection jets were positioned in the upper part of the cylinder wall where, in a normal 300 engine, the spark plugs would be located. In the SL engine, these were moved to the side of the cylinder head. The crankshaft of the six-cylinder unit, with 2996 cubic centimetres engine displacement resulting from a stroke of 85 millimetres and a bore of 88 millimetres, was supported by seven bearings.

With the addition of a sports camshaft and a compression ratio of 8.55:1, the power pack could even produce 215 hp at 5800 rpm. This corresponds to a power output per litre of 71.5 hp – a quite unbelievable figure for the time, since most engines made do with a modest output of 30 hp per litre displacement, at most. The speed of the SL engine was also a cause for admiration: 6600 rpm was the figure quoted by Mercedes-Benz for its maximum speed, with 6000 rpm at cruising speed. Back then, anything over 4000 rpm was rare.

Each of these high-performance engines was tested for 24 hours on a test bed, with one in six even tested at full throttle. The engines would then be dismantled and checked once again before being re-assembled and subjected to a further eight hours of endurance testing. Only once this procedure had been completed were they considered fit to be installed in the SL Roadster.

Bodywork engineering based on aircraft construction

An even greater technical sensation was caused by the tubular frame; a principle derived from aircraft construction. The filigree construction, which experts welded together by hand from individual, fine steel tubes, was light and yet rigid. In order to ensure the stability of the frame in the original Coupé version, it was constructed to quite a high level in the passenger compartment, where normally the doors would be. This more or less inevitably gave rise to another spectacular innovation that was to become the hallmark of the 300 SL: its gullwing doors. However, when it came to the Roadster, the engineers redesigned the tubular frame construction, by lowering it in the door area, to make getting in and out easier and to increase the boot space. The idea behind the open-top car had been from the start, after all, to offer a sporty tourer or luxury convertible.

A further prominent feature of the SL models of the nineteen-fifties were the crescent-shaped protrusions over the wheels, which gave the SL such a striking appearance. These were originally designed to protect the sides of the vehicles from dirt and damage from loose chippings and were hence officially known as "splash shields".

The Mercedes engineers also improved the Roadster in other important points. For example, it was given a new single-joint swing axle with a lower pivot point and compensating spring, which was superior to the original double-joint axle and was less demanding on drivers driving at the limits of stability. From 1961 onwards, Mercedes-Benz fitted disk brakes to all four wheels of the SL Roadster.

The American motoring magazine "Road & Track" advised its readers with regard to the 300 SL Roadster "When a comfortable interior is matched by remarkably good vehicle handling, with wheels that grip in what can only be described as an incredible fashion, with light and precise steering and with performance that is as good as, if not better than, any car so far built, then there's only one thing left to say: the sports car of the future has arrived!"

Yet even this dream had to end and, on February 8, 1963, production of the 300 SL ceased. Up until that point, 3258 sports cars had been built, 1858 of them as Roadsters.