This obscure French supercar hides a priceless classic icon underneath

This striking supercar looks halfway between a classic car and a modern one, but there’s a good reason for that.

It’s designed by a company you’ve probably never heard of – Saoutchik – as a modernized iteration of a classic.

The eye-catching body is a modern-day tribute to the Mercedes 300 SL.

But fear not – no Mercedes 300 SLs were harmed in the making of this…we hope.

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The story behind Saoutchik

Saoutchik was a coachbuilder founded in France in 1906.

It was founded near Paris, but the name is Slavic because the founder was Iakov Saoutchik, whose family had emigrated from the then-Russian Empire in 1899.

Saoutchik worked on a variety of different vehicles, from household names such as Bentley and Cadillac, to more obscure brands like Delahaye and Hispano-Suiza, another automaker that recently made a comeback.

As for Saoutchik, the company ceased operations around 70 years ago, in the mid 1950s, and no one paid much attention to it until now, with this new car.

What we know about this supercar so far

Saoutchik shared these images of a new upcoming model called the 300 GTC, a tribute to the iconic Mercedes 300 SL, but hasn’t said much about it yet.

The prototype doesn’t have gullwing doors, a defining feature of the original 300 SL, but it does have a drop-top roof and large, round headlights at the front.

The car looks tremendous, but there are a few things we’re not sure about.

First, Saoutchik hasn’t shared too many details about it.

We’re going to go ahead and assume they won’t actually cut original 300 SLs into pieces to put them back together, because that wouldn’t go down well with collectors – or with Mercedes, for that matter.

Second, we don’t know whether this is going to be a Mercedes-inspired concept, or an electromod of some sort, as in a classic car revamped with electric power.

Hopefully we won’t have to wait another 70 years to find out.