The Benz and the lens

The classic Leica M3 camera and Mercedes Gullwing sportscar are both turning 50, writes motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE




German companies Mercedes-Benz and Leica have got together in New York to honour the 50th birthday of two of their iconic designs: the Gullwing 300SL sports car and the M3 camera.

Why New York and not Germany? The Gullwing was launched at the 1954 New York motor show and the M3 camera immediately became a favourite among big-name photojournalists back then, many of whom worked out of New York.

Now Mercedes-Benz and Leica have commissioned Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden to capture the original car and camera on the streets of the city for the birthday project.

New Yorker Gilden, 57, used the latest Leica M7 to shoot the images, which will be shown at joint birthday functions through the year.

The original M3 and its interchangeable lenses set a new standard for mechanical and optical precision and formed the technical and design basis for the legendary M-series of cameras.

The Gullwing 300SL also set a design and engineering standard. But its launch in New York 50 years ago had more to do with salesmanship than flexible fittings.

The 300SL was a road-going version of the sports-racing car, the W194, which had notched up a string of successes in the early 1950s. Among them was a one-two finish at Le Mans and victory in the Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico.

The Mercedes-Benz importer for America, Maximilian E. Hoffman, had watched the success of the W194 and pestered the Benz board to build a road-going coupe version. He believed he could sell 1000 in North America.

Eventually, Mercedes-Benz agreed. But there was a problem. The spaceframe chassis of the roadster W194 consisted of a network of tubes designed to provide strength and rigidity.

Sections of the frame ran high along the sides of the race car. Fitting conventional doors would mean cutting into the space frame, thereby compromising the car's strength.

The answer was to hinge the doors in the centre of the roof, so occupants could step over the high and wide sills to reach the interior.

The radical design was seen as a gamble for a road car. But it paid off. The 300SL was an instant hit and the design led to it becoming known as the Gullwing Mercedes because of its appearance when the doors were opened.

The 300SL has since has become one of the most collectable cars in the world.

The 300SL was powered by a 3-litre six-cylinder, fuel-injected engine developing 158kW (212bhp) and tilted at 45 degrees to fit under the low bonnet. Top speed was 250km/h (155mph).

When production of the Gullwing finished in 1957, only 1400 had been made, although Mercedes-Benz continued to build a convertible version.

The Gullwing was one of two Mercedes-Benz SL models unveiled in New York in 1954. The other was the 190SL which, with its folding soft-top roof, founded the Mercedes-Benz roadster tradition.

The 300SL and 190SL continued in production until their successor arrived in 1963.

The new model created quite a stir, mostly because of its quirky appearance. Its most striking feature, alongside the new lines, was a removable hardtop which dipped inwards in the middle. It looked like a Japanese pagoda.

The car soon acquired the pagoda nickname. The design, however, had more to do with safety than styling.

Mercedes-Benz engineer Bela Barenyi, one of the pioneers of modern-day passenger car safety, had patented the unusual roof shape some years before, in 1956, as a design which offered extreme rigidity and maximum occupant safety in an accident.

Equally impressive was the large amount of headroom the pagoda model offered when the hardtop was in place.

It was followed in 1971 by a new SL sports car which continued in production until 1989, longer than any other Mercedes-Benz passenger car.

The fourth-generation SL was launched at the Geneva motor show in 1989.

It was codenamed the R129 and was the first production car in the world to be fitted with an integrated three-point belt in the seat. Around 20 patented solutions are to be found in this seat alone.

Mercedes-Benz built 180,000 units between 1989 and July 2001. Meantime, the first SLK and its folding hardtop roof appeared in 1996. Eight years on it has sold more than 300,000 units. It will be replaced by the second-generation model in New Zealand later this year.

The latest SL was launched in 2001. It and the new SLK contain design cues from the Gullwing 300SL of 1954.