The Mercedes-Benz 300SL is nicknamed the Gullwing because of its distinctive upward-opening doors.
The doors rise from the roof and resemble a bird’s outstretched wings, inspiring the English nickname “Gullwing.” In German, the car is known as the Flügeltürer, meaning “wing door,” while French speakers have also used Papillon, or “butterfly.” Gullwing is the standard English-language answer for the coupe.
The unusual doors were not merely a styling flourish. The 300SL used a lightweight tubular space frame with high structural sections along the sides. Conventional doors would have been difficult to fit without weakening or redesigning that structure, so the roof-hinged arrangement solved an engineering problem as well as creating a visual signature.
The road-going W198 coupe was introduced in 1954 after the successful W194 racing car. Mercedes-Benz built about 1,400 Gullwing coupes from 1954 to 1957. The later 300SL Roadster used conventional doors, so “Gullwing” properly refers primarily to the coupe.