The Mercedes 300SL Gullwing is one of the rarest and most desirable cars ever produced. Recently, I have come across an artifact that is even more rare than the Gullwing itself. While working on the article on the diverse Mercedes-Benz automobiles of the Pittsburgh Section of the MBCA for the September-October 2020 issue of The Star, one of the section members told me that her late husband had owned a Gullwing. Although she does not have the vehicle, she does own a stereoscope that was likely produced as a means to market the 300SL Gullwing and Coupe.

Sandra Simpson’s late husband Mostafa got the Gullwing from his uncle, Ahmed Sidky, who purchased it in Paris and brought it to Egypt. Mostafa drove the Gullwing all over Cairo until the later years of his life, when the car changed hands to his nephew. The nephew sold the Gullwing to a friend who later sold it to a Lebanese national, who took the vehicle out of Egypt. Towards the end of his life, Mostafa moved to the Pittsburgh area with Sandra, where she had grown up. When they moved, they took the stereoscope with them. Sandra refers to the viewer as her “Pocket Mercedes.”

The stereoscope was produced by a Stuttgart company called Weizsäcker. Unfortunately, the Mercedes-Benz archive in Stuttgart has no information in their collections about this artifact. They know that Weizsäcker made stereoscopes in the 1950s and that they sometimes made special ones for Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. They do not know if they were a regular fixture with the sale of the 300SL or if they were gifts from particular dealerships.

We are hoping that some other members of the MBCA can give us information about the stereoscope. If anyone else has come across one of these or owns one and has more information, please reach out to my email: [email protected]. If you have one and send photos, we can feature it on the Pittsburgh Section social media accounts, @MBCAPGH on Twitter and Instagram.