No Gullwing. Does it matter?

Almost sixty years ago, the Mercedes 300SL opened its Gullwing doors for the first time. Practical? Not exactly. Safe? By no means. Cool? Oh yes. The new roof-hinged metal slabs launched the sports car from the normal "that's very nice"-league to the rare and exclusive "this must have been made from God's own semen"-league. Suddenly, everybody wanted a 300SL.

But what happens when you observe the same car, but without the iconic entry device? Is it just as good, or does it lose the nerve that tingled every car enthusiast? That exact thing happened when Mercedes launched the Roadster version three years later. The German engineers quickly realised that you couldn't have soft-top Gullwing doors. Obviously. So they made the 300SL Roadster with conventional, front-hinged doors. Still a very nice car. But compared to the original Gullwing, it's just so... bland.

Then 54 years passed. Few gullwinged cars made it from the glitz and glamour of the auto shows and onto the streets, even if many manufacturers were dabbling with the idea. The exceptions were few and, quite frankly, a bit quirky: The small and nimble Autozam AZ-1, the Canadian sports car Bricklin SV-1, the infamous DeLorean DMC-12, the Brazilian Bertone Carabo-inspired Hofstetter Turbo, the Isdera Commendatore and the Melkus RS-models. When the DeLorean stands out as the most popular car of the list, you can assume that the rest weren't exactly best-sellers...

Then, at last, Mercedes rolled up their sleeves and decided to set the Gullwing matter straight once and for all. After the joint venture with McLaren which ended in the brutal-but-misunderstood SLR, their love for unconventional door hinging blossomed once again. The SLR did not have Gullwings; instead McLaren opted for the same solution as used on the F1. The so-called butterfly doors are front-hinged and move up, like Lamborghini scissor doors, but then twist and roll inwards in a kind of semi-Gullwing fashion. The beauty of this system is that you don't have to change it if the roof comes off, which was proven when the Roadster version was launched in 2007, also boasting butterfly doors.

But then, four years later, Mercedes launches the SLS AMG. With REAL Gullwing doors. Finally, the legendary look is back. And, as history repeats itself, suddenly everybody wanted one.

Inevitably, the beefed-up hairdressers wanted a piece of the action. Subsequently, the SLS Roadster is launched shortly after the Gullwinged Coupé. And again, history repeats itself. Because just like the old 300SL, the Roadster has a soft-top. And no Gullwing doors. So, is it just as uncool compared to the SLS Coupé as the 300SL Roadster was compared to the Gullwing?

I would have to say......... no.

This is an awesome-looking car. From every possible angle. It actually looks better than the coupé, for some reason. It's like they designed the car to be a drop-top to start with.

And with that magnificent 6,3-litre V8 bellowing under the long bonnet, you really need to keep the top down at all times - just to experience the noise in its own element. The power, the acceleration, the Roadsterness of it all... it's just in another league. This is Mercedes at its best.

So is the Gullwinged Coupé a less desirable car? Well, not exactly. It's still a damn good car with extremely cool doors. It just seems a bit too flamboyant compared to the soft-top. And if you ever park it next to an original 300SL Gullwing, you will feel like a complete twat. So if you really want a cool Gullwing car, buy an original 300SL. On the other hand, unless you have pockets like the Mariana Trench, that could be a costly affair since they don't exactly come cheap these days.

Buy a DeLorean or a Bricklin instead...