RE: Mercedes 300SL Gullwing: Time For Tea?
Monday 28th April 2014
So if the SLS AMG is a fitting tribute to the 300SL, it only seems right to pay our dues to the original Gullwing. This video is perfect.
Mercedes 300SL Gullwing: Time For Tea?
A Gullwing that's not tucked up for shows only? There really is one!
From Cars247.com, it's very much in the style of Petrolicious; one devoted owner, one beautiful car with a nice 'dreams come true' back story do it.
Confusingly, this video doesn't mention the owner's name. Regardless, he's exactly the kind of Gullwing owner you would love to meet. He made a model as a child and spent the next three decades working towards owning a 300SL. Now he has one and it's cherished but, more importantly, used as intended too. He even complains about those owners who just roll out their cars for shows. Good man.
Enjoy the vid here.
Discussion
What a glorious car...what an amazing sound....what a true legend the owner is. I thought I was sounding good in my straight six Vitesse on the M5 yesterday tickling 90 ( measured in Imperial not Metric) but the noise of that has confirmed it as my dream car. Truly epic in every way.
Better safe than sorry...Price from 750k for a reengineered one to 1.8m for an aggressively priced one.
The things i would do to own this one!!!!!
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/mercede...
Lovely
The things i would do to own this one!!!!!
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/mercede...
Lovely
I love these cars. When I was a young un, say 13 or so, I had a paper round spread over quite a large area. I made sure I delivered very early except for Sundays when I didn't deliver until maybe 08:30-09:30. This seemed to annoy one customer. He had a 300SL Gullwing, pale blue, and many Sundays I would hear the car coming towards me so the driver could pick up his Sunday Times from me! Unforgettable.
Maybe I was lucky...another customer had a DB4 which he seemed to be polishing every Sunday when I delivered to him!
R.
Maybe I was lucky...another customer had a DB4 which he seemed to be polishing every Sunday when I delivered to him!
R.
Just randomly came across the following lovely pic on flickr....and noticed this article. Thought it might be apt to post here.
Original link included below
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gyzmo7/6384485827/in...
Original link included below
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gyzmo7/6384485827/in...
Edited by LaSource on Tuesday 29th April 07:05
Greg_D said:
Price from 750k for a reengineered one to 1.8m for an aggressively priced one.
The things i would do to own this one!!!!!
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/mercede...
Lovely
Oh yes, fantastic without a doubt. I cannot believe that price bracket though, I really did not realise that these could command such a sum, even, if I am presuming that you mean in US dollars?The things i would do to own this one!!!!!
http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/mercede...
Lovely
The aluminium bodied ones can certainly fetch a bit: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/22/rare-1955-merce...
That was in 2012, too. They may have gone up since then.
That was in 2012, too. They may have gone up since then.
bubney72 said:
Beautiful car, in my top 5 of all time!
Check out the average price!! 
http://www.hagerty.ca/valuationtools/HVT/VehicleSe...
It is just such a stunning car. It is still at the top of my list to buy if circumstances prevail.
I was lucky enough to drive one a good few times, including my wedding day about 7 years ago so I have very fond memories of it. My father used to own one (was in the family for c.30 years if memory serves me correctly) and we would take it out occasionally.
The things I can remember about it:
The noise - my mum always described the noise as a tank starting and that pretty much summed it up. It wasnt some beautiful Italian note, it was just deafening loud, especially when starting from cold.
Steering wheel - comically large vs. today's size and the feedback was 'interesting'. Think of a young kid moving his hands back and forth like driving a bus and that was pretty much driving straight.
Brakes: On or off - which would you prefer. Driving at 70mph was scary enough, god knows what it would it have been like at double that!!
Loved the passenger horn - (2nd horn located on the dashboard in front of the passenger). Was told that it was so the passenger could horn people out the way, likewise, the lights had a setting to constantly flash so you could alert people on the autobahn that you were coming. No idea if actually this was what they were designed for but it was a good story anyway.
It sat for many years at the Doune Motor Museum in Stirlingshire for those who remember going until the museum closed. It then just sat in my parent's unheated, leaking garage for a few years (sacrilege I know!!) with the condition deteriorating before being sold as it was prob worth the same as the house, lol and would have cost so much to properly restore.
Looking at those valuation charts makes me wince - if only I could have afforded to buy it back then, it would have stayed in the family. It was most definitely a condition 4 car. For example, it had 2 large crowbar dents on each side of the bonnet. Before going to the museum, it sat unloved in a factory. 2 'mechanics' wanted to try and start it but couldn't work out how to get into the bonnet (if you look at the picture above you will see it doesn't open in the normal way). In their frustration, and thinking that it was stuck, they shoved a crowbar down each side and tried to lever it open resulting two large bumps on the bonnet where they had tried and failed to open. Idiots.
I was lucky enough to drive one a good few times, including my wedding day about 7 years ago so I have very fond memories of it. My father used to own one (was in the family for c.30 years if memory serves me correctly) and we would take it out occasionally.
The things I can remember about it:
The noise - my mum always described the noise as a tank starting and that pretty much summed it up. It wasnt some beautiful Italian note, it was just deafening loud, especially when starting from cold.
Steering wheel - comically large vs. today's size and the feedback was 'interesting'. Think of a young kid moving his hands back and forth like driving a bus and that was pretty much driving straight.
Brakes: On or off - which would you prefer. Driving at 70mph was scary enough, god knows what it would it have been like at double that!!
Loved the passenger horn - (2nd horn located on the dashboard in front of the passenger). Was told that it was so the passenger could horn people out the way, likewise, the lights had a setting to constantly flash so you could alert people on the autobahn that you were coming. No idea if actually this was what they were designed for but it was a good story anyway.
It sat for many years at the Doune Motor Museum in Stirlingshire for those who remember going until the museum closed. It then just sat in my parent's unheated, leaking garage for a few years (sacrilege I know!!) with the condition deteriorating before being sold as it was prob worth the same as the house, lol and would have cost so much to properly restore.
Looking at those valuation charts makes me wince - if only I could have afforded to buy it back then, it would have stayed in the family. It was most definitely a condition 4 car. For example, it had 2 large crowbar dents on each side of the bonnet. Before going to the museum, it sat unloved in a factory. 2 'mechanics' wanted to try and start it but couldn't work out how to get into the bonnet (if you look at the picture above you will see it doesn't open in the normal way). In their frustration, and thinking that it was stuck, they shoved a crowbar down each side and tried to lever it open resulting two large bumps on the bonnet where they had tried and failed to open. Idiots.
Edited by thewharftrader on Tuesday 29th April 09:15
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