1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster

A Lifetime In California

John Ebell, a member of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, Sacramento Section, placed a “for sale” ad in the section’s July 1972 newsletter. The Bonnington’s, Desmond Jr. and Elaine, also members of the Sacramento Section, responded and were invited to inspect the car at the Ebell’s home in Woodland, California. Chassis 7500176 was kept in a separate four-car garage with three Ferrari’s. The garage had a service pit and equipment in it, and Ebell said that the car was at the Mercedes-Benz display at the November-December 1957 San Francisco International Auto Show. Ebell said he bought the car off of the stand through The Electric Garage, a Studebaker dealer in Woodland and that the cost of air freight from Germany added to the price, to his surprise. After much discussion, the sale to the Bonnington’s was agreed upon and was to be completed in the next couple of days. The day after the agreement was made to the sell the car for $4,800, the Bonnington’s received a phone call in which Ebell pulled back from the deal. Approximately a week later, Mr. Ebell called and told the Bonnington’s that if they were still interested in the car they needed to get the money to him before he changed his mind again. Why the change? Ebell said that he had just driven the first street-legal Ferrari Daytona and was buying it, and given his wife told him he had too many cars and needed to sell one, he chose to part ways with the 300SL. On arrival with a check in hand, the Bonnington’s were met with a “bait and switch” attempt to sell them one of the Ferrari’s in Ebell’s garage instead of selling them the 300SL. After much discussion, the sale of chassis 7500176 to the Bonnington’s was agreed upon and finally completed, and thus the 300SL left Woodland for a new home in Fair Oak, California.

While John Ebell owned chassis 7500176, it was used frequently in driving events such as local parking lot time trials and races. During his ownership tenure, a relatively low-quality repaint was done and a canvas tonneau cover was added. No service records or mileage recording was handed over to the Bonnington’s upon purchasing the car from Ebell, however the car’s original service booklet from the Electric Garage was in the glove box showing that multiple services were performed. Also retained with the car is the original purchase receipt the for the sale from John Ebell to The Bonnington’s.

During the current ownership by The Bonnington’s, the car has participated in many Gullwing Group and Mercedes-Benz social and/or driving events such as: the MBCA Western Caravans at Monterey/Laguna Seca and Ontario Motor Speedway; the Solvang Swing rallies on President’s Day; Gullwing Group annual conventions in Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Portland, Lake Tahoe/Reno and Victoria, British Columbia. Several modifications were made during the Bonnington ownership including: modern electric ignition and distributor installed with the original parts retained; additional oil filter installed; cylinder head was overhauled due to a floating valve guide after driving events at Laguna Seca; the car was stripped to bare metal and repainted in 1998 in the original color of DB 180 silver; headlights were changed from US sealed beam to Euro-spec headlights. This two-owner from new, exceptionally well cared for, early production 1957 300SL Roadster comes with Mercedes-Benz Zertifikat noting original options, US spec headlights, Euro spec headlights, tonneau cover, soft top, additional parts, original books, tools, and jack. As pure and authentic as 300SL’s come.