Considered by many as the first supercar, the Mercedes 300SL has enough qualities as it is to fetch an outstandingly high price on the “used car market”.

Add one with a history of motor racing and we’re talking about a highly desirable car, sought after by collectors that could exchange hands for an obscene amount of cash. But what makes the 300SL so special?

Its rarity, to begin with, as Mercedes built approximately 1,400 examples of the w198 Gullwing, over a three year period. To top it off, the basic concept carried a lot of motorsport expertize to the world of production cars, which made each one of them eligible for racing. To make things even more interesting (and expensive), 29 of the 1400 total units were bodied in aluminum alloy, making them even more desirable.

This particular example (chassis 5500640), destined to go under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s Driven to Disruption auction, isn’t one of the aforementioned 29 examples, but that doesn’t make it any less special. That’s because this car is the first one of four steel-bodied, racing Gullwings that were prepared by the competition department, or the Untertürkheim factory’s Sportabteilung,

Although the 300SL was capable of holding its own on the track, most of the cars raced back in the day were private-owned; still, Mercedes apparently entered various steel-bodied cars in events like Mille Miglia and Targa Florio with factory team drivers, but unfortunately exact chassis records were often not recorded.

Chassis 5500640 however, was delivered to the Sportabteilung in Untertürkheim – according to the original data cards – where it received a wide array of racing features, including an NSL-specification motor with revised camshaft profile; Rudge knock-off wheels; a competition-type fuel-injection pump, venturi, and exhaust; special ventilated drum brakes; a larger oil tank; lower ride height from an adjusted suspension; and a specialized final axle ratio of 3.48:1.

Furthermore, given the dates on the data cards, this vehicle is believed to be the very first factory-campaigned W196 300 SL. So, to put it simply, this Merc may or may not have been raced at various iconic events, at the mercy of legendary drivers Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Karl Kling, John Fitch, and Hans Hermann.

We like to believe it was, and its owner probably likes too, given the fact that the car is currently evaluated to fetch between $5,000,000 and $7,000,000

One thing is for certain, the car was raced by Stirling Moss multiple times, registering a 2nd place as its best result at the historically significant 1956 Tour de France. So, that should be enough to justify the price, right?

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