Chevrolet Corvette C1 vs. Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

[f6fhellcat13]

Are these cars going for anywhere near the same amount of money?

It's my money: 'Vette
Free; Gullwing

Edit: Aftermarket, you seem to enjoy the comparison of apples and oranges...

[092326001]

300SL because of the gullwings, big surprise there, and fuel injection

[roosterjuicer]

im pretty sure the c1 had fuel injection.

i dunno which one was more technologically advanced, but i know id rather have a gullwing sitting in my driveway than a c1 vette.

i think the gullwing is one of the prettiest cars ever made and still is one of the best mercedes' out there.

[Rasmus]

roosterjuicer; fuel injection was an option but not till the 283 in '57 and 327 in '62.

[Equinox]

Gullwing for sure. It is a great looking car, and had many advancements for it's day. The handling had it's fault's, but the car itself is an amazing machine. Independant suspenion, tubular chassis, one of the first gasoline engines with fuel injection, the engine placed at a 50 degree angle to keep the hoodline low and thus better aerodynamics and better center of gravity.

The car was far more advanced for its day.. And to this day is still rated one of the top sports cars of all time.

[culver]

Over the years the Corvette has had some really advanced features which other makes later copied. The C1 Corvette wasn't one of the Corvette's with much advanced anything. The automatic gear box was state of the art and yes, in 57 you could get fuel injection but that was about it. The small block Chevy motor was a very good design and quite advanced for it's day. It wasn't so much that it brought a lot of new technology to the table. Rather it was a very thoughtfully designed motor whose details were very well executed. Of course it came out in more than just the Corvette.
The C2 Corvette was the first version to actually start pushing some technology. Incidentally, the IRS on the Mercedes wasn't very advanced. It's arguable that the swing axle design was actually inferior to some of the solid axle alternatives given the really bad traits swing axles bring to the table. When GM sold cars with the same suspension Ralph Naider became famous. The Corvette's first IRS was a far better design which was inspired by the design used by Jaguar.
Of the two cars I would say the Mercedes wins.

[LTSmash]

I find this comparison insulting....


Merc.

[nota]

Even back then I wouldn't describe GM's 2-speed Powerglide as being 'state of the art'

[#3 Tasman Bloke]

Corvette. The Gullwing was too much of a racer for the road and the Gullwing that's coming is way too ballistic.

[LeonOfTheDead]

im pretty sure the c1 had fuel injection.

i dunno which one was more technologically advanced, but i know id rather have a gullwing sitting in my driveway than a c1 vette.

i think the gullwing is one of the prettiest cars ever made and still is one of the best mercedes' out there.

roosterjuicer; fuel injection was an option but not till the 283 in '57 and 327 in '62.

it's rather a fact that the SL used not only fuel injection as a first but also direct injection too.

[culver]

Even back then I wouldn't describe GM's 2-speed Powerglide as being 'state of the art'

It was. At the time GM had two automatics. One was a 4 speed but used an older style hydraulic coupling. The 2 speed in the Corvette, which incidentally was not developed for the Corvette) used what became the modern torque converter. Despite having only 2 gear ratios, the benefits of the torque converter's torque multiplication gave the box a greater total range of ratios than the 4 speed auto which had effectively 4 fixed torque multiply ratios.

The number of gear ratios seems unimpresive but by that same token the fuel injection in the Mercedes is unimpressive because it didn't net much for all it's complexity. The same might be said of the system used on the '57 Corvette. However, if we look at things in terms of pioneering technology then the 2 speed auto in the Corvette is state of the art and, unlike the Mercedes (and 57 GM) fuel injection systems, this system helped ushered in the modern automatic.

[roosterjuicer]

the engine placed at a 50 degree angle to keep the hoodline low and thus better aerodynamics and better center of gravity.

thats crazy! did that cause any fuel injection issues or is that why they had to do direct injection.

i know on off road motorcycles, jetskis, chainsaws and leaf blowers, one of the advantages of two strokes over four strokes is that you can operate them at funny angles and upsidedown and stuff and they wont die on you where as fourstrokes will often die when at odd angles. i would imagine having a car motor tilted at a funny angle at all times would cause some issues

[LeonOfTheDead]

thats crazy! did that cause any fuel injection issues or is that why they had to do direct injection.

i know on off road motorcycles, jetskis, chainsaws and leaf blowers, one of the advantages of two strokes over four strokes is that you can operate them at funny angles and upsidedown and stuff and they wont die on you where as fourstrokes will often die when at odd angles. i would imagine having a car motor tilted at a funny angle at all times would cause some issues

AFAIK fuel injection and direct injection helped a lot in that sense, being also used on planes, much more stressing than off road motorcycles

[Ferrer]

The number of gear ratios seems unimpresive but by that same token the fuel injection in the Mercedes is unimpressive because it didn't net much for all it's complexity. The same might be said of the system used on the '57 Corvette. However, if we look at things in terms of pioneering technology then the 2 speed auto in the Corvette is state of the art and, unlike the Mercedes (and 57 GM) fuel injection systems, this system helped ushered in the modern automatic.

Well the power bump from the 300S saloons was considerable so I don't think the Gullwing's fuel injection is unimpressive at all. In fact it was more powerful than the carburetted 300SL racers.

[nota]

The number of gear ratios seems unimpresive but by that same token the fuel injection in the Mercedes is unimpressive because it didn't net much for all it's complexity. The same might be said of the system used on the '57 Corvette.

Well your mention of 'net' reminded me the Mercedes Gullwing actually did net (that being net DIN) a sensational 215hp from a mere 183cid, which is a tad more efficient than Corvette's relatively unimpressive gross (SAE) rating of 283hp out of 283cid

However, if we look at things in terms of pioneering technology then the 2 speed auto in the Corvette is state of the art and, unlike the Mercedes (and 57 GM) fuel injection systems, this system helped ushered in the modern automatic.

Fascinating ... but how do you rate your 'state of the art' Powerglides against, say, the original Torqueflite?

And insofar as 'ushering in the modern automatic' it seems to me those cast iron 2-speed 'Glides appear positively antediluvian against the similar-era DG250 auto, which featured:

3-speeds
alloy case
electric kickdown
anti-creep
hillholder
and yes even a lock-up torque converter

Now to me these above features appear more relevant and precient of modern automatics than would GM's basic old 2-speed slushbox

Btw the DG trans were seen in Mercedes cars - as was direct fuel injection - another technological feature which is just now appearing, more than fifty years later, in modern petrol engines including the most recent from GM