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The biggest gathering of original Mercedes-Benz 300SL sports cars will take place at the 2024 George Old Car Show on the weekend of February 10 to 11.
A total of eight of the nine original series 300SLs residing in South Africa will be at the show, which is now in its 27th rendition in 2024.
These are the cars that earned the 300SL the title of “Sports Car of the Century” in 1999!
Chairman of The Southern Cape Old Car Club Waldo Scribante, who personally owns one of the most comprehensive Mercedes Benz classic collections in South Africa, says seven of the 300SLs are Roadster versions, and for the first time, a magnificent original Gullwing 300SL Coupé will be joining the event.
The Gullwing is presently the only one of these original SL series coupés in South Africa.
The cars are arriving from as far afield as Johannesburg, Klerksdorp, Cape Town, and Paarl, while one of them is a local machine owned and garaged in George.
“And even more significant is that our SL display marks, almost to the day, the 70th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL.”
In total, some 1 400 Gullwing coupés and 1 858 roadsters were built between 1954 and 1963.
Famous owners of the car include Sophia Loren, Pablo Picasso, Clark Gable, Bernie Ecclestone, Hugh Heffner and Paul Newman.