Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, introduced in 1954, was the world's fastest production car at the time and the first to use fuel injection — a technology derived directly from the company's Formula 1 programme. Its distinctive gullwing doors, necessitated by the high sill of its space-frame chassis, became the most dramatic styling gesture in postwar automotive design and have defined the car's silhouette for seven decades. The 3.0-litre straight-six engine, tilted 50 degrees to reduce bonnet height, produced 215 horsepower and a top speed of 163 mph that no production car could match in 1954.