From gullwing to vario-roof

The new Mercedes-Benz SL moves into the 21st century with an industry-first production electrohydraulic braking system and a next-generation folding hardtop.

Technology is the design ethic that has produced the new-generation Mercedes-Benz SL, just as it was with the first direct-fuel-injection gullwing SL of the early 1950s. But the latest Mercedes-Benz, the fifth-generation SL, reaches far higher levels of sophistication, with the introduction of an electrohydraulic brake-by-wire system (claimed as a “first” for a road car), advanced folding hardtop, and a structure with high aluminum content. Engine developments slated for production are believed to include a bi-turbo V12, and Mercedes-AMG is already offering a 5.5-L supercharged V8 producing 350 kW (470 hp).

It is half a century since Mercedes embarked on its SL (sports, light) program when, at a Daimler-Benz Board meeting in June 1951, the decision was made to re-enter motor racing at Formula 1 and sports racing levels. For its first post-war sports racing car, it took the standard 3.0-L engine from the stately 300 sedan, almost doubled its output, “and built a tubular frame and aluminum body” around it. The result-the 300 SL-evolved along aerospace-engineering lines, the fine steel tubes that formed its structure being welded together by hand. And to ensure rigidity, top-hinged, upward-opening doors that formed part of the roof-similar to a fighter aircraft's canopy-provided access to an interior that had the distinct ambience of an aircraft cockpit. It was those doors-dubbed gullwing-more than any other facet of this extraordinary car that were to guarantee the 300 SL a truly unique position in automotive history.