Paul O'Shea and the 300SLS... [PIC]

Massachusetts born Paul O'Shea was a privateer sports car driver that stated racing in the late '40s in the American SCCA endurance and rally events. He had many early successes in cars like Simcas, Allards, Ferraris and Porsches. He scored SCCA championships in '55 and '56 in a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing provided by Uhlenhaut's racing division. For 1957, the Unterturkheim Sports Department provided him with two specially made 300SLS (Super Lightweight Sport) roadsters specifically for US events. He got them through Studebaker which was the sole distributor for Mercedes. George Tilk oversaw the cars.  Because only two were ever built, he ran them in the 'D' modified class. O'Shea returned the favor and won its class in 1957. After a couple of seasons, the cars were returned to Studebaker in South Bend Indiana and from there... they disappeared.

CMC modeled both of the SLS cars. They were both very well done for the time. The un-liveried silver roadster looks like it was never raced and I know nothing about it. 

The white SLS seems to have every event it was ever in never removed. The USAC badge would seem that he not only ran in SCCA events. The "074 sticker is from the Colorado Grand 1000mi rally. The beautiful #26 graphic on the hood is a mystery as is the #57 roundels (it was seen with the #30). The Mobil graphics are similar to those that entered into the Mobil Economy Run! After as much research that I could find, it appears that CMC modeled the car from an existing recreation of which there are 5 or 6 around. As to the two originals, it seems they were crushed on orders from M-B North America rather that convert them to street legal, because the magnesium chassis parts would degrade and with the aluminum body, it wouldn't have been cost effective to convert the cars. So I guess you could describe #57 as a well meaning phantom.