Rescuing a Forgotten Mercedes-Benz 300 SL from Lisbon. Some cars are discovered by chance. This one came back because a family could no longer let it disappear.
For decades, this 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing remained hidden away in Lisbon, far from the public eye. Unlike many rediscovered classics, the car was never truly abandoned. It stayed within the family of its original Portuguese owner, protected, preserved and quietly waiting through generations.
The story began when the grandson of the first owner contacted us directly. Without that phone call and the trust of the family, this Gullwing would most likely never have resurfaced.
Over the years, both the son and later even the grandson had dreamed of restoring the car themselves. The intention was always there. At some point during the last 20 to 30 years, the Gullwing had already become a restoration project and was carefully dismantled piece by piece in preparation for a future rebuild that never fully materialised. Like many long-term family projects, life eventually intervened. Time passed, priorities changed and the scale of restoring one of the world’s most iconic sports cars became financially and technically overwhelming.
What remained was an extraordinary but unfinished chapter, a disassembled Gullwing resting quietly in Portugal together with original documents, historical notes and decades of family history.
For us, this was never simply about acquiring another Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.
It was about preserving a story.
Finished in its original silver specification with rare dark blue leather interior trim (DB 979), the car survived in remarkably authentic condition. Alongside the chassis and body, many original components, handwritten notes and period details remained with the vehicle, offering a rare glimpse into the life of a Portuguese-delivered Gullwing from the 1950s.
Although extensive research into the car’s history is still ongoing, there is currently no confirmed evidence of a direct racing history connected specifically to this chassis. Nevertheless, the car originates from a fascinating period in Portugal, when the country’s small but passionate 300 SL community played an active role in rallies, road events and circuit racing during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Once the agreement with the family had been finalised, we travelled to Lisbon to begin the recovery operation.
The atmosphere on-site felt emotional from the very beginning. This was not a forgotten wreck being dragged out of a field, but a family-owned Gullwing that had remained part of the household’s history for generations.
The first task was carefully extracting the chassis from the garage and preparing the car for transport. Because the vehicle had remained dismantled for many years, numerous components first had to be sorted, secured and partially reassembled in order to make the transport possible.
The body itself presented another challenge.
Working with limited equipment and trying to avoid unnecessary risk to the fragile Gullwing structure, an improvised lifting solution was created outside the property using a traditional Portuguese cork tree, chains, a custom-built lifting system and a specialised support frame. In what became one of the defining moments of the entire rescue, the body shell was slowly lifted beneath the cork tree and carefully manoeuvred back onto the chassis for the first time in decades.
Against all odds, the operation worked perfectly.
Once reunited, the body was temporarily secured, the remaining parts carefully packed and documented and the entire project prepared for its long journey back to Germany.
That evening, after days filled with pressure, logistics and emotion, we sat together in Lisbon reflecting on what had just happened. The following day, the transporter began its return journey towards Bavaria while we boarded our flight back to Germany, with the feeling that an important piece of automotive history had just been saved.
Today, the Gullwing has safely arrived in Polling, where its restoration and historical documentation process are now underway.
But perhaps the most meaningful part of the entire project still lies ahead.
One day, once the restoration is complete, we hope to welcome the grandson of the original owner back to Polling, so he can see the Gullwing once again, restored to the condition his father and grandfather had once dreamed of achieving themselves.
A HK-ENGINEERING story
