The first photo of this 1956 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing tells the story, an accident. As much as we resist the idea, collector cars sometimes get banged up. The impact in this case was bad enough to bend the tubular frame, slightly buckle the rear quarter panels, and crack the aluminum structure of the deck lid. We had to make a replacement panel for the damaged rear area because it had been hit many years ago and was very poorly repaired.
The entire car had to be re-painted because it is very difficult to match old metallic paint. This was a challenging job because the interior and engine compartment were both perfect and had to be protected through the whole process. The customer selected a color that was very close to the original Mercedes silver but a bit brighter. The result was stunning. The car was completed just in time to be invited to the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Group meeting in Denver. Mercedes-Benz unveiled the new 2010 SLS Gullwing, alongside our customer's car, to dealers for the first time. After the meeting, both cars were shipped to Sedona, Arizona for the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Owner's Convention where our the car won 1st place in its class. Both cars were again photographed together in Sedona and appear in the Christmas issue of the Robb Report.
This is how the car arrived to us after the accident. The tubular frame was bent, the rear quarter panels buckled slightly and cracked the aluminum structure of the deck lid. We were up to the challenge!
After initial analysis of the accident we began by straightening the body.
Body work was done on the rear of the car after it was pulled to restore the original lines in preparation for new paint.
Since matching the original silver would have been close to impossible, a new but very similar shade was chosen to have the whole car repainted in.
After the new paint had dried we began reassembly.
The back end after all the body work, paint work and reassembly looks as good as new!
Here is the finished result and just in time to head to the photoshoot for the unveiling of the SLS AMG!
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