Complete Description
Gearbox no. 924
Rear axle no. 417
Steering no. 027
Left front axle no. 027
Right front axle no. 027
- Exceptional history, specification and original condition
- Supplied with all the sports options available at the time
- 100% of numbers as when it left the factory
- First paint, 34 255 km
- NSL engine, Rudge wheels, sports springs and shock absorbers
- One of 106 cars supplied in ‘Graphitgrau’
- One of 30 cars delivered new in France (Paris)
- Supplied new to a Parisian industrialist and Olympic champion
- In the same ownership from 1961 to 2014 (53 years)
- Complete evaluation carried out in December 2025 by the specialist Dipl.-Ing.. Klaus Kukuk
- No reserve
Sometimes, during your life, you come across stories that seem to have been written by chance itself. A combination of circumstances so unlikely that over time they pass into legend.
This is the story of the discovery of an automotive treasure.
On 26 January 1956, a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, chassis no. 198040-6500019, left the production lines in Stuttgart. From the outset, this was no ordinary 300 SL. It was ordered in an exceptional and extremely rare specification, with all the sports options available in the catalogue at the time. Rarer still, it was one of only 106 examples supplied with ‘Graphitgrau’ paintwork (code DB 190), combined with a Natural leather interior (Naturfarbe 1068).
The options, as listed on the factory inspection sheet, demonstrate the exacting requirements of its first owner:
· NSL engine with special parts for performance driving SA 10013
· Shock absorbers and absorbers for performance driving SA 10009/1
· Centre-lock Rudge disc wheels SA 935-198
· Two-piece fitted leather luggage set 1068 SA
· Lengthened steering column SA 944-198
· Rear axle ratio 3.42:1
· Sealed-beam headlamps
· SA 100%
· Without separate seats
· Rear fog lamp BA 55105
· Supplied with rust protection and soundproofing materials
This example is one of only 30 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ models delivered new in France. It was ordered by the Mercedes-Benz importer in Paris, the Royal-Elysées garage, directed by the famous Charles Delcroix, on behalf of its first owner.
This man of taste was none other than Claude Foussier, an outstanding industrialist and exceptional sportsman. At the time, he lived in one of the masterpieces of Art Deco architecture in Paris: the prestigious luxury apartment buildings designed by Jean Walter in 1931 at the Porte de la Muette, at 2 boulevard Suchet in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. A detail, which, as we will see, would take on an almost mystical dimension.
Born in Paris on 19 April 1925, Claude Foussier had a remarkable professional career: he was the director of Pernod-Ricard, CEO of the Société Parisienne de Boissons Gazeuses (SPBG) and the European importer of Coca-Cola. But his life was not limited to his business interests. He had a consuming passion for the sport of shooting.
1.89m (74in) tall and weighing 99kg (218lb), he competed in Olympic clay-pigeon shooting at the highest level. He took part in the Olympic Games at Rome in 1960 and at Tokyo in 1964, was European team champion six times between 1956 and 1962, individual runner-up in the European Championships in 1958 at Turin, in 1960 at Barcelona and in 1961 at Budapest, as well as winning the Coupe des Nations in Madrid.
His institutional career was equally impressive: Founder and President of the French Shooting Federation in 1965, President of the French Sports Academy, head of the French delegation to the Winter Olympics at Grenoble in 1968 and at Sapporo in 1972, a member of the Olympic Order in 1993 and, finally, Commander of the French Legion of Honour, awarded to him in London on 13 December 2010.
A man of imposing stature, he was also a true car enthusiast, with a love above all of cars of character. One story perfectly illustrates his personality: in September 1960, walking past a showroom window in Paris, he noticed a Ferrari 250 SWB Berlinetta, no. 2283GT. It was love at first sight. He went into the showroom, ordered the car and had it tailored to his exact specification.
Given his build, he requested that the seat be lowered and the steering column lengthened by 5cm (2in). He even went to Modena to work directly with Sergio Pininfarina. He asked for six additional cooling ducts, two ducts inspired by the 250 GT Tour de France, a more powerful racing-spec engine and a special differential, and chose a paint scheme in Verde Pimlico with three black stripes running the length of the car. Nothing was left to chance: Claude Foussier was not designing a car for the man in the street.
It is hardly surprising therefore that, a few years earlier, in 1955, he chose the all-new Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ and ordered it with all the sports options available. The Mercedes thus occupied his garage before the famous Ferrari 250.
He took delivery of the car from Royal-Elysées at the beginning of January 1956 and registered it at his address at 2 boulevard Suchet. It was kept in the garage of the apartment building until 28 March 1961, when he sold it to Roger Loyet, a former racing driver who had become a renowned car dealer in Paris, with Johnny Hallyday, Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo among his clients.
Loyet kept it for only two months before selling it to Jean Piger, another Parisian industrialist. Piger registered it in his name on 31 May 1961, retaining its original registration number.
On 27 November 1984, Piger took up residence in his Château de Margeaix and had the address changed on the car’s registration papers. It was given the registration number 2823 HR 43, but the original plates were never replaced. A knowledgeable enthusiast, he kept the 300 SL in the outbuildings at the château, alongside a Ferrari 500 Mondial, a Bugatti 57 Atalante, a Ferrari BB 512 and an E-Type Jaguar he had bought new. A tax sticker from 1993, which remains on the windscreen, confirms that the car was still on the road that year.
In 2014, Piger, a strong personality who had always refused any offers to buy it, finally decided to sell the 300 SL. On the day it was collected, the car had not run for 11 years. It was covered in a thick layer of dust and the tyres were flat. Despite this, it needed only six new spark plugs, a battery and a bit of fuel to start it up and load it onto the buyer’s trailer, to head off to Germany. The sale was handled by a well-known dealer on the Côte d’Azur.
Its new owner, a very discreet collector, took the car down in the lift to his basement, without cleaning or touching it, and put it inside a plastic storage bubble, protected from the passage of time, like a work of art.
Nine years later, a leading Parisian collector and Mercedes enthusiast visited him to buy a 300 SL Roadster. When the deal was done, the German revealed a secret he had never shown anyone. He opened the bubble, and there was the 300 SL ‘Gullwing’: untouched, dusty and movingly authentic. It was love at first sight, and the Parisian collector offered to buy it straightaway. But straightaway too, the owner refused.
A year went by. Finally, the call came from Germany. The sleeping beauty changed hands and returned to Paris, taking its place in its current owner’s garage, alongside several Mercedes Black Series and a Mercedes 280 SE 3.5 Cabriolet which had also been supplied new in Paris. The new owner did not touch the car. He was content just to look at it each day.
And this is where the story takes a unique and legendary turn: recent research with the city authorities have shown that Claude Foussier, the first owner, lived at 2 boulevard Suchet. A surreal coincidence ... the same address, believe it or not, as the current owner’s home, and today the car lies at rest in the same garage as in 1956! What is the probability of the car ending up at the same address, 70 years later, as that of its first owner?!
The specialist Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Kukuk carried out an extremely detailed assessment of the car, including measuring the paint thickness and precisely noting all the internal numbers. The results are staggering: apart from slightly thicker paint on the right rear section of the body below the bumper and a touch-up below the passenger door, the entire car has kept its original paint from when it left the factory. The internal numbers and the hidden numbers on the body panels as well as the mechanical components are completely and 100% in accordance with the original numbers, even those engraved on the keys! Naturally, this evaluation report is available on request to any interested parties.
Never stripped down, never restored, still with its original paintwork, this Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’, equipped with rare period options including its NSL engine, and naturally ‘matching numbers’, which spent 53 years with its second owner, is offered in absolutely original condition after 34,000km. It is sold with one of the original fitted suitcases (the other having been lost during the car’s lifetime), its Mercedes-Benz tool kit and a specially-made aluminium part to balance the wheels (the first we have seen supplied with a 300 SL). It comes too with its patinated Natural leather interior, never touched or cleaned, complete with an exterior temperature gauge in front of the passenger (again something we have never seen on this model), its very first numberplate with the number from 1956 which has never been changed, and, above all, its layer of dust, that dust which has protected it from any degradation.
It is worth recalling the production figures: only 250 or so examples of the 300 SL were supplied new with an engine for performance driving, the famous NSL engine developing an extra 20bhp, this figure including the 29 aluminium-bodied 300 SLs. 170 of these 250 cars left the factory with the NSL engine and Rudge wheels. And a mere hundred or so had the NSL engine, Rudge wheels and sports springs and shock absorbers, not to mention the other options. This therefore makes this car one of about 60 built to this specification, which was identical to the 29 aluminium-bodied models.
Its overall condition is exceptionally sound, the seats are still firm without signs of deterioration, giving its new owner the choice: to reveal the undamaged sheen of its original paintwork and interior, or to preserve this unique witness to the passage of time, this piece of history which is impossible to find in this condition. It is certainly the last 100% original 300 SL ‘Gullwing’, which is even still equipped with the protective floor pan that has never been removed (except for the front section for oil changes).
Whatever he or she decides, the gates of the world’s greatest concours d’élégance will open for it, in the most sough-after category, the ‘Preservation Class’, where this extraordinary car has all the qualities needed to win. We can already state that the car and its new owner will be invited to the next Concours d’Elégance at Chantilly.
It should not be forgotten that, with its tubular chassis, 3-litre six-cylinder engine (it was the first production car to have fuel injection), finned Alfin brakes, independent suspension and streamlined body, the Mercedes 300 SL had its origins in racing. The ‘Gullwing’ doors – which would make the car so successful and famous, and enable it to grow old without a wrinkle – were not just for show, but a necessity, given the structure of the chassis, which extended up the sides to maximise its strength. These characteristics made the 300 SL absolutely dominant on the road, where it topped 230kph and could get from 0–100kph in under 9 seconds.
This Mercedes 300 SL in particular, chassis no. 198040-6500019, is unique because of its poetic history, its remarkable original condition, lavish specification and wealth of factory performance parts. It is a gem, a treasure nowhere to be found.
Participating in the auction on this lot is subject to a special registration process. If you would like to bid on this lot, please get in touch with the bidding office or the motor car department at least 48 hours before the sale
Photos © Kevin Van Campenhout
