Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing Garage Diorama, Silver, weathered

Max Hoffman, Mercedes-Benz's importer in the United States, put the case for a road version of the W194 racing car to the company's directors in 1953, and the 300 SL coupé was shown at the New York International Auto Show in February 1954. Rudolf Uhlenhaut's spaceframe of chrome-molybdenum steel tubes ran so high along the sides that ordinary doors would not work, so the doors were hinged in the roof. The 2,996 cc straight-six was tilted 50 degrees to fit under the low bonnet and fed by Bosch mechanical direct injection. Mercedes built 1,400 coupés between 1954 and 1957.

This diorama finds one of them long after, in a timber-beamed workshop with a cobbled floor. The silver paint is worn through and streaked with grime, both gullwing doors and the bonnet stand open, and the red cabin is faded and dusty. The rear plate reads 300-SL. A spare door leans in a corner against a tyre and a front wing rests on a crate. Around the car are tall timber cupboards, one open on boxes marked Bosch and Magneti Marelli, a rack of tools, a pair of overriders with a spare number plate, oak barrels, shelves of oil tins and two Mercedes-Benz signs, one a blue Service roundel. The room is built into a glazed case with black corner posts, closed at one end by a rendered wall with a window. It was made in Germany.