The R107 chassis code indicated the two-door version with a soft-top or detachable roof and optional folding seats for the rear. When the next generation emerged for the 1970s, the SL series was very much a Personal Luxury Car and long removed from the racing heritage of the original 300SL. The 250 SL followed in 1966 with sharper brakes, an optional limited-slip differential, and a standard 2.5-liter still making 148 hp but with extra torque. The W113 SL was powered by a straight-six engine pulled from the shelf at Mercedes and grown from 2.2 to 2.3 liters of displacement and modified to make 148 hp. The 230 SL came first, and Mercedes Technical director Fritz Nallinger explained that "it was our aim to create a very safe and fast sports car with high performance, which despite its sports characteristics, provides a very high degree of traveling comfort." He didn't mention right then that the W113 SL was the first sports car to use a "safety body" with crumple zones protecting a rigid passenger cell. The idea was for the new SL to not only be within reach of only the richest of people like the 300SL and to improve on the performance of the 190SL. Bracq and Barényi came up with the subtly concave hardtop design that earned the W113 series its "Pagoda" nickname. When Mercedes replaced the first-gen SL, head of styling Friedrich Geiger worked with Paul Bracq and Béla Barényi on the second.
Ahead of a new generation, we look back at all the SLs past.
The SL stands for "super-light" in German but has evolved into a true luxury sports car, whether it's a coupe, roadster, or being amped up by the Mercedes-Benz tuning arm, AMG. He was responsible for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, but the most famous was the legendary gullwing-doored Mercedes-Benz 300SL.īy encouraging Mercedes to build a sports car mainly for the American market based on its successful 1952 endurance race car, chassis code W194, Hoffman became the grandfather of the Mercedes-Benz SL class. In the same year, Hoffman suggested Porsche build the 356 "Speedster" for the American market and was the first dealer to bring BMW and Alfa Romeo here.
In the early 1950s, he had the iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright design his Jaguar Hoffman Auto Showroom in Manhattan and then his own house in 1955.
He was an Austrian-born, New York-based luxury car importer with a sense of taste and style with business acumen to match.
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