Rare 1954 Mercedes Gullwing Coupe Hidden In Storage Unit For 40 Years

These stories are undeniably common nowadays. It usually involves a rare car couped up under decades of dust and stowed away for decades only to be uncovered sooner or later. Whether the car was stashed away due to sentimental reasons or it was being hidden until the owner could cash in, there seems to be no shortage.



This time the car coming out of hiding is a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL, also known as the Gullwing Coupe. This is number 43 out of 1,400 produced. The car was found in a storage unit about a mile away from the Atlantic Ocean in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where it has been parked since the late 1970s. Only 35,308 miles grace the clock, and according to the license plate, the last time it was driven was in 1965.

Covering the body of steel and aluminum is a coat of primer where it was once intended to be painted but never happened for some reason, and all of the exterior pieces were removed and kept inside the dusty car. The only damage to the car is a dented rear, and it is missing some minor engine details.

Founder/chairman of Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance tracked it down after seeing it just twice years prior. Having been blindfolded to the location of the car, they were able to go inside and get a glimpse of it. With the bolted-on “eyebrows” on the wheel wells, it’s a tell-tale sign that it is an early Gullwing model.

Fair condition Gullwing Coupes can go for over a million dollars, and to get this all-original car back to factory specs would cost likely half million to do so and quite a bit of time. It will get to see the light of day on March 10th where it will be displayed next to its sibling – the 44th Gullwing Coupe produced – at the 23rd-annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.