sfisher71
Functional vents
As with the gullwing doors on the original 300SL racing coupe, these side vents were originally a purely functional addition to solve a practical problem: how to get heated air out from under the hood at high speed. (Even the road cars were capable of 150+ mph, and the racing cars were topping out at 175.) But the solution was so beautiful that it was adopted, even in non-functional form, on many other sports cars of the Fifties.
Functional vents
As with the gullwing doors on the original 300SL racing coupe, these side vents were originally a purely functional addition to solve a practical problem: how to get heated air out from under the hood at high speed. (Even the road cars were capable of 150+ mph, and the racing cars were topping out at 175.) But the solution was so beautiful that it was adopted, even in non-functional form, on many other sports cars of the Fifties.