Extraordinary Coincidence With This Unloved M-B ‘Gullwing’
- Editor OGN Daily
- 33 minutes ago
- 1 min read
An unrestored 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ - which many say is the greatest sports car ever - is heading to auction with a remarkable back-story.
This iteration is one of only thirty 300 SLs that were delivered to France, having been ordered new in January 1956 “with all the sports options available in the catalogue at the time” by its first owner, a Paris industrialist named Claude Foussier. Foussier later sold the car in 1961, and it changed hands again that year, passing along to an owner who kept it for decades. That owner then sold the car in 2014, after a period of neglect - as evidenced by the photograph above - and it was shipped off to Germany.
It then changed hands a couple more times, and then the 300 SL headed back to Paris in what appears to be a truly extraordinary coincidence.
Click to expand | Images courtesy Artcurial
“Recent research with the city authorities have shown that Claude Foussier, the first owner, lived at 2 boulevard Suchet,” Artcurial says in its auction listing. “A surreal coincidence … the same address, believe it or not, as the current owner’s home, and today the car lies at rest in the same garage as in 1956! What is the probability of the car ending up at the same address, 70 years later, as that of its first owner?!”
The auction house estimates that the car will fetch up to 5 million euros (around $5.8 million) at auction, which will take place in Paris on 27 January.