300SL Gullwing repair panels now available new from Mercedes-Benz

No matter if you're restoring a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL "Gullwing" from a rusted-out barn find shell, or just repairing accident damage, you want to use the best, most accurate body parts for it. Mercedes-Benz has now stepped in and made factory quality body parts available for the 1950s classic supercar.

Now, when restoring such a valuable car, it's obvious that factory replacement panels won't come cheap. And even if it's exceedingly handy to have them available directly from any Mercedes-Benz dealer, the prices are still quite something. Take a look:

• Front panelling left (A198 620 03 09 40), 11,900 euros ($14,200)
• Front panelling right (A198 620 04 09 40), 11,900 euros ($14,200)
• Rear panelling left (A198 640 01 09 40), 14,875 euros ($17,790)
• Rear panelling right (A198 640 02 09 40), 14,875 euros ($17,790)
• Rear-end center section (A198 647 00 09 40), 2,975 euros ($3,560)
• Rear-end floor (A198 640 00 61 40), 8,925 euros ($10,675)

The manufacturer says the parts were re-created by 3D scanning original 300 SL bodies and using that data to build proper tooling. But it's still not a cut and shut job, as the body parts' shapes were hand finished with wooden mallets, the way specialist coachbuilders did it decades ago. Mercedes-Benz says this enables very high accuracy of the replacement panels, with very little custom work needed when fitting the parts in place, if any. And with factory new cloth also available, 300 SL resto work is getting easier and easier.

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