Joal Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster 1:43 Metallic Green No.107 Vintage Diecast

Vintage 1970s Joal 1:43 scale diecast model of a Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster made in Spain. Almost identical to the Danish Tekno 904 version (as Joal licenced/bought/copied the casting).

Metallic green painted body with detailed black painted base plate. Bare metal front and rear bumpers with overriders. The front grille with large Mercedes 3-pointed star badge is part of the front bumper casting. Headlights are glazed and the rear lights are painted yellow. Blue tinted glazing with a slight craze/crack in the passenger side top corner. There’s a white interior with a red 3-spoke steering wheel and metal gear lever. The bonnet hinges open to reveal a detailed silver straight 6 engine. The boot opens to reveal a spare wheel. It rolls on treaded rubber tyres and chrome wheels with Mercedes centre caps and there is spring suspension on each corner.

The Joal history goes back to 1949, A toy factory was started by Bernabeu and Beltrá in the Spanish town Ibi (Alicante).

Joal made car models for a long time, but the competition was so intense that they changed to concentrate on buses, trucks and construction models.

Joal manufactured a large range of high quality detailed models in various scales. For half a century Joal created famous construction models from brands known worldwide, including Caterpillar, DAF, Pegaso, PPM and Volvo. These were at 1:50 and 1:32 scales.

After 66 years, in May 2015, the company was liquidated and the factory in the Spanish town Ibi closed.

Joal bought/licenced/copied some of their castings from other manufacturers (e.g. the Mercedes C-111 is from Dinky, Porsche Carrera 6 is from Corgi, Jaguar E-Type & Monza GT are from Tekno, Alfa Romeo Canguro is from Politoys, Ferrari Can-Am is from Mebetoys, and Chaparral Prototipo 2-F is from Mercury)

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car that was produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1954 to 1957 as a gullwinged coupé and from 1957 to 1963 as a roadster. The 300 SL traces its origins to the company's 1952 racing car, the W194, and was equipped with a mechanical direct fuel-injection system that significantly increased the power output of its three-liter overhead camshaft straight-six engine.

In mid-1956, sales of the 300SL Gullwing began to decline, prompting the Mercedes-Benz board to consider a convertible version tailored to the California market. A prototype was showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1957, and by May the factory had been converted for roadster production.

As the gullwing coupe the roadster was adapted from did not have conventional doors, its alloy-steel tubular frame was redesigned to lower its sills, create strong points for door hinges, make space for a proper trunk, and reinforce the frame for rigidity lost transforming it from a coupe to an open car. In spite of following the coupe's lead and using aluminum panels for the hood, trunk lid, door skins, sills, floors, and bulkhead, the roadster gained 35 kg (77 lb), bringing the new car's weight up to 1,330 kg (2,930 lb).

Mechanically, the M198 engine power was boosted to 240 hp (179 kW), and the rear suspension enhanced by lowering the swing axle's pivot point 87 millimetres (3.4 in) below the differential centerline. The resulting notable improvements in handling and ride comfort were not lost on lead engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, who had sought the design on the coupe but been rebuffed by the Mercedes board, which opted to utilize an existing inventory of approximately 3,000 axle units to offset the vehicle's already high production costs.

Not only was the considerably more driver-friendly roadster easier to get in and out of, it was available with custom configured leather luggage to maximize trunk space gained by moving the spare tire beneath its floor and shrinking the fuel tank.

Originally, the roadster came with a stowable soft top. In September 1958, an optional weatherproof hardtop became available. It proved such an attractive option that in spite of its considerable 1,500 Deutschmark price it proved the most popular option, so popular Mercedes began to offer the roadster without the soft top (for a 750 Deutschmark discount off its 1958 price of 34,000 Deutschmarks).

Production ended in February 1963, after a run of 1,858 roadsters - the last Mercedes-Benz to be built on a separate frame.

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