1957 Mercedes 300SL Roadster Ex Anne Jeffreys

History

This stunning 1957 Mercedes 300SL Roadster began life within the hands of its first owner, American actress and singer, Anne Jeffreys. Born in Goldsboro, North Carolina in 1923, Jeffreys showed an early aptitude for singing and joined the New York Municipal Opera Company in her teenage years, singing in La Boheme, La Traviata and Pagliacci at the Carnegie Hall

Jeffreys was a very attractive woman with an excellent singing voice and was soon recruited into the film industry, where in 1942, she shared the screen with both Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Billy the Kid (Buster Crabbe). She appeared in 1944 with Frank Sinatra in ‘Step Lively’, starred as the girlfriend of ‘Dick Tracy’ in the 1945 film and later that year would play the famous gangster’s moll in ‘Dillinger’ with Lawrence Tierney

In the late 1940s and early 1950s she appeared in several Broadway productions playing the lead role in the original production of ‘Kiss Me Kate’, the Cole Porter musical based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. She later starred in the popular US television sitcom ‘Topper’ which cemented a career in television that would span a further fifty years

She was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972, later receiving a Golden Boot award in 1997. Furthermore she held the distinction of being the last on screen dance partner of the legendary Fred Astaire in the 1979 TV series ‘Battlestar Galactica’

The ultimate sports car of choice for the Hollywood A-List of the late 1950’s was the Mercedes 300SL and owners at the time included Sophia Loren, Clark Gable, Yul Brynner and Natalie Wood. Anne Jeffreys was no exception and acquired this very example, brand new in late 1957, whilst at the peak of her career

The 300SL was originally finished in ‘HellBlau’ DB334 coachwork with ‘Crème’ leather hide and was transported by train on October 31st 1957, for shipment to New Orleans, USA, destined for Mercedes Benz importer Studebaker Packard of South Bend, supplied with equipment “export USA” which included instrumentation in English and a Becker Mexico radio

Jeffreys ownership of the SL would last over twenty years and it is believed that she sold the car to a friend in 1980 who retained it for a further twenty five years, changing the colour to it’s present configuration of Silver DB180 coachwork with Blue hides

In 2005 a Dutch collector discovered the 300SL in America and repatriated it to Europe, whereupon a restoration was commissioned to a high standard whilst carefully preserving as much of the cars originality as possible

The current owner acquired the car in 2016 via leading MB 300SL specialists HK Engineering and imported the car into the UK, where it was issued with an age-related UK registration. Throughout the current ownership, maintenance and service work have been entrusted to respected marque exponents Martin Cushway Engineering, who have just completed a major service and fitted a new exhaust system in November 2021

Supplied with historical file with UK registration, various service and sundry invoices, fitted luggage and upgraded Hifi system (with Bluetooth engineered within the original Becker radio), this 300SL performs very well, is a pleasure to drive and is ready for immediate use with its next custodian