1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SC

Sold for $698,000 at 2021 Bonhams : The Scottsdale Auction.
The Mercedes-Benz 300S was an exclusive, expensive, and rare automobile. It was one of Mercedes-Benz's first all-new designs of the post-war era. It made its debut at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1951 and helped re-establish Mercedes-Benz's tradition of building high-performance luxury automobiles of the finest quality.

The lower and mid-priced Mercedes-Benz of the 1950s adopted a unitary chassis/body construction. The traditional separate frame was given to the 300 which enabled a wide variety of coachbuilt body types to be offered. The cross-braced, oval-tube chassis was similar to the 170S and 220 models, with an independent suspension setup in the front and back along with four-wheel drum brakes. It was given the refinements of hypoid bevel final drive, dynamically balanced wheels and remote electrical control of the rear suspension ride height.

The 300SL Sports Cars initially used a 3-liter, overhead-camshaft, six-cylinder engine with fuel injection and produced 115 horsepower. The succeeding 300B and 300C models received a boost in power, finally gaining fuel injection in the restyled 300D of 1957.

In October of 1951, at the Paris Salon, the conservatively styled 300 Saloon was joined by the 300S (Super) in two-seater Coupe, Cabriolet and Roadster configurations on a shortened 300 saloon chassis. The 300S was lighter than the saloon and had more power, thanks in-part to triple Solex carburetors and a raised compression ratio.

The top offering of the series was the 300Sc. Power was from a 175 horsepower dry-sump engine equipped with Bosch fuel injection system. They had a revised rear suspension setup with single-pivot swing axles in similar fashion to the 300SL Roadster. Servo-assisted brakes, optional from 1954, were standard equipment.

Just 200 examples of the 300Sc were built over the 4 years of production, and just 53 of those were Roadsters.

This particular example is the 16th of 53 Sc Roadsters built and was delivered in their DB50 designated white paintwork, with black leather hides. When new, it was sent to New York where it was sold to its first owner.

In the mid-1990s, the car was given a restoration where its paintwork was changed in favor of the triple black scheme combination. It has a black exterior, black convertible top, and a black interior. The odometer currently shows a little over 500 miles since the restoration was completed.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2016