While the original Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing” Coupe was exiting stage left in 1957, its successor, the 300 SL Roadster, was debuting at that year’s Geneva Auto Salon. The conversion of the 300 SL to an open car meant redesigning the chassis, which was strengthened significantly to compensate for the loss of the roof structure. Enthusiasts who may have worried about the super-leicht going “soft” had absolutely no cause for concern: Thanks to a fully synchronized gearbox, greatly improved engine mechanicals, new rear axle design, and wide range of final drive selections available to customers, the Roadster remained among the fastest-accelerating automobiles on the road.

While the new open-topped 300 SL certainly enjoyed increased interest for the model among movie stars, celebrities, and debutantes—in short, those wishing to be seen—there was still a good number of well-heeled sportscar enthusiasts who endeavored to continue to world-beating racing legacy of the Gullwing Coupe.

This car’s original owner was one such individual, a man who wished to enjoy very high-speed driving without a worry as to his safety. Such was his respect for the 300 SL—a prized example of which already resided in his garage when it was joined by this Roadster offered here.

Douglas Stearly of Trappe, Pennsylvania was an accomplished businessman and amateur racer, who also was the title sponsor and operator of a top-tier USAC team which he fielded between 1959 and 1964, with notable drivers including Troy Ruttman, Rex Easton, and Ronnie Duman. In April 1964, he even took a chance on a young, relatively unknown racer from Nazareth, Pennsylvania by the name of Mario Andretti.

But eight years before he gave Andretti his first national-level professional race start, the 36-year-old Stearly had purchased a new, Fire Engine Red 300 SL Gullwing.

In fact, Stearly was so completely and utterly enraptured by the model’s incredible styling and high-speed driving dynamics that he returned to the same Mercedes-Benz dealer during November 1957 and purchased this Roadster, chassis 7500315. While owning a single specimen of the 300 SL over the course of a lifetime was a fantasy to most, Stearly had procured himself two—brand new—in less than a year!

Finished in a subtler color combination than his Gullwing, the accompanying copy of its factory data card confirms that Stearly’s remarkably original and well-preserved Roadster was originally completed at Sindelfingen on 16 October 1957, clad in the same Silver Grey Metallic (DB 180) paintwork, Red leather (1079) upholstery, and Black fabric soft top with which it presents today.

As a respite from the cold Pennsylvanian winters, a close friend had turned Stearly onto the habit of attending the now-legendary Bahamas Speed Weeks. Held during the first week of December and fully endorsed by the Bahamian Government, Speed Week not only brought hundreds of thousands of tourists to the island between 1954 and 1966, but also allowed wealthy amateurs to race neck-and-neck in a dangerous, albeit picturesque, venue against some of the world’s best professional drivers. As noted by author Terry O’Neil in The Bahamas Speed Weeks, “If you had the money, this was the #1 social occasion that American sports car enthusiasts planned for months in advance.”

The allure of the competition and the parties (though perhaps not the substantial prize money) proved too much for Stearly to resist; in 1957, he raced his red Gullwing to middling results against competitors including Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Peter Collins, Masten Gregory, and a 15-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez!

Disappointed, if enlivened, by his results in 1957, Stearly quickly resolved to take his 300 SL Roadster in 1958, and to this end he reportedly had it prepared for competition by a local race shop in Reading, Pennsylvania, after which it was transported via flatbed down to Miami, driven onto the SS Queen of Nassau, and disembarked onto the sun-soaked piers of that Bahamian paradise.

But when Stearly returned for his second pass at Speed Week glory in December 1958, he not only landed in Nassau with this Roadster, but also new information which made his chance at victory even more tantalizing. First, a dispute over starting money had caused nearly all the true professional star power to drop out of that year’s event. Equally important, the racecourse was now one-mile shorter, with a revised clockwise layout featuring a set of new tight chicanes in lieu of a single hairpin of the prior layout.

On 4 December, Stearly urged his Roadster to a best-in-class performance during the Tourist Trophy qualifying heat. Later that afternoon, he stirred a riveting wheel-to-wheel drive against the Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark III Coupe of class rival George Constantine. Though Stearly was only barely bested by Constantine at the last moment, he still chalked up an impressive class runner-up and 4th overall finish behind the wheel of this Roadster.

The overall results of Stearly’s next two races in Nassau on 5 December remain unrecorded, although he did secure fine class placements of 4th and 6th in the Governor’s Trophy qualifiers and main race, respectively. At the week’s final Nassau Trophy race on 7 December, Stearly and his Roadster cleaved through the 40-member strong field to rack up a 16th overall, 3rd in class finish—a feat made all the more notable when one considers that the top 15 positions were dominated by a bevy of monstruous, out-and-out racing machines like Lance Reventlow’s Mark I Scarab, a pair of 250 TRs run by E.D. Martin and Pedro Rodriguez, a Ferrari 375 Plus, 500 TRC, and even a Maserati 450 S.

Following its return to Pennsylvania in January 1959, Stearly only very rarely drove this car, instead preferring to enjoy his Gullwing on most occasions. Doug’s son, Walt, recalls short drives with his father in the Roadster to get ice cream on beautiful summer nights, and a jaunt or two to local car shows in Reading, but otherwise the car remained tucked inside the family’s garage.

As such, the car was effectively preserved over the following five decades. To this day it still retains its original Silver Grey Metallic paintwork, Red leather upholstery, and instrumentation, as well as its numbers-matching bodywork, chassis, engine, gearbox, and rear axle. Amazingly, the Stearly Roadster currently indicates fewer than 35,710 actual miles at time of cataloguing. Even the car’s original 1957 Pennsylvania registration plates accompany the sale, and it rides on four original wheels (plus the corresponding spare). Additionally, this special super-leicht is accompanied by a tool roll, owner’s manual, jack, historic images from Nassau Speed Week, and some service records.

Around 2006, the Stearly family elected to sell their prized pair of 300 SL’s to a Pennsylvania-based collector-dealer. Importantly, this collector titled the car in his dealer inventory and kept it on static display. As such, the Stearly Roadster has only had one single, private-party owner since new! In preparation for sale, the consignor reports that nearly $20,000 has been spent on routine mechanical servicing in order to prepare it for regular use.

Today, the 300 SL Roadster still carries with it an indelible aura of speed, power, and sophisticated style. It is fast enough for the sports car lover yet comfortable enough for those who demand luxury, and it has remained one of the most desirable and well-supported automobiles in the world. This charismatically original 1957 roadster is a rare and versatile thing. Indeed, as is, it would no doubt be a welcome preservation-class entrant to all the world’s finest concours.