Two cars, two generations, one concept
07/30/2011
Mercedes 300SL 1954 and Mercedes 300 SLS 2010, two cars, two generations, one concept: gullwing doors!
The 300 SL from the 1950s, also known as the "Gullwing", was THE sports car of its time and has lost none of its popularity to this day. Even today, people stop when one of these rare sports cars pulls up and their amazement is multiplied as soon as the doors open towards the sky.
Have you ever thought about what happens if you roll over in one of these cars? Well, with the 54 model you didn't even have these thoughts. After all, the car was built for driving and not for overturning. There is no emergency hammer hanging in the cabin, like in the Postbus.
But today's safety regulations are much stricter. You also have to offer a solution for this situation, so in the uncomfortable "down under" situation, you can blow the doors off the SLS in true James Bond style. This is what happened at the ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring on May 15, 2011: the Heico SLS driven by the German Robert Renauer rolled over after contact with an enemy - no problem, today's cars offer an enormously high level of safety for their occupants.
But the explosive mechanism of the SLS gullwing doors did not work. As a result, the trapped driver had to be freed by crane.
Despite all the technical innovations in the SLS of 2010, I would prefer the original from 1954. The design of the Gullwing is so perfect that any attempt at a new edition, now or in the future, will almost certainly always fail.
Photo Copyrights: Daniel Reinhard, Bodo Kräling.
