7th place – Jack Shepherdson’s Top 10 Classic Grand Touring Cars
After the immense success of the 300SLR, Mercedes’ motorsport chief, Rudolf Uhlenhout set out to build a road legal coupe version. What he created was astounding. Two of the nine 300SLR chassis were converted into ‘Uhlenhout’ coupes, essentially hybrids between the 300SL Gullwing and the 300SLR race car.

Initially built for competition, the project was scrapped after Mercedes cancelled their motorsport division due to the horror crash at the 1955 Le Mans endurance race involving a 300SLR. The Uhlenhout then fell into the hands of the man himself, who used it as a daily driver for a number of years, at one point driving down the Autobahn from Stuttgart to Munich in less than an hour, reportedly nudging 180mph. Only one ‘Uhlenhout’ Coupe remains accounted for, the fate of the other is unknown.

Image source:
jalopnik.com…

#MercedesBenz #Uhlenhout #German #Racing #Motorsport