The first year of production for the SL was for racing, and the 300SL burst onto the scene with beautiful classic curvy coupe form (0.25 cd!?). What did they do in 1952? they won Le Mans.
I am going to refer you to the superb article in E-Mercedes for a lot of great background on the 300SL from 1952—-as i think the article is fantastic. Mercedes-Benz have great digital information about their history these days—if you haven’t already, make sure you download their free iPad application for their museum as well.
some photos from the E-Mercedes site:
IEDEI 