Mercedes driven by Moss for sale

A "GULLWING" car that helped motor racing star Sir Stirling Moss win the gruelling Mille Miglia race is to be auctioned.

Bonhams is offering the Mercedes-Benz 300SL at a sale at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart, Germany, on July 12.

Moss and his navigator Denis Jenkinson used the car on a course reconnaissance ahead of the 1,000-mile Mille Miglia race in Italy in 1955.

Moss and Jenkinson went on to triumph in the race, driving a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR, with another Grand Prix legend, Juan Fangio, coming second in another 300SLR.

Unveiled at the Paris motor show in 1954, the three-litre 300SL Gullwing was also displayed at the 1955 London motor show.

The car was subsequently sold by Mercedes-Benz GB to HW Motors of Walton-on-Thames, south-west London, and then to enthusiast private owner Peter Woozley.

He raced the car at club level and set the fastest lap in finishing second in the Stanley Sears Trophy race at Snetterton in Norfolk in 1959.

The car, with its distinctive roof-hinged gullwing doors, is being offered fully restored to original 1954-55 specification.

Bonhams group motoring director James Knight said: "This is arguably the most historic 300SL Gullwing extant and is the latest consignment to the auction at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart."

By Peter Woodman, Press Association