Opinions on this 300SL please

[Streetrod]

First off not only is the colour combination rather nice but the car has an unusual history. Apparently it was badly damaged in a fire so it was sent to HK Engineering to be rebuilt, But they went several stages further and produced a brand new aluminium body for the car(Nice!). Then they got rid of the famously wayward swing axel rear suspension and substituted in the much better unit from the later 300SL Roadster, adding 4 wheel disk brakes as they went along.

Then they added a five speed gearbox internals to the original four speed box and air con.

Apparently this makes this probably the best handling and fastest 300SL gullwing around.

Current asking price 740,000 Euros or £644,670

Do you think it’s worth it and do you like the concept?

Edited by Streetrod on Wednesday 28th September 18:18

Edited by Streetrod on Wednesday 28th September 18:58

[anonymous-user]

to spend that much on a car, I would want to choose a colour combo I liked and that ain't it

concept sits happily with me

[Chunkychucky]

IMO, if I had that kind of money, I would not buy one of those as I personally will always see those as being worth around the £200k mark. BUT, if I were in the market for one, I believe that one would be very high on my list, partly due to the history/spec, partly due to the colour combos. Looks nice

[Streetrod]

Top Hartley recently had a well documented 300SL gullwing restoration up for sale for well over £600k. I think it sold very quickly

[beach bum]

I am sure it makes a wonderfully useable and enjoyable Gullwing.

That steering wheel though looks very much out of place!!!

[shirt]

love the interior, period tartan is just so right.

as for the concept, i don't think it is outrageous. the suspension could be seen as a period mod. the 5speed zf in commonplace among old mercs and is easily swapped back to original. i think i'd want aircon in a car notorious for cabin heat, not like you're going to be caning it and lamenting the power lost to aircon belts is it?

[LotusOmega375D]

Ridiculous waste of money. That's one step away from being a replica IMO. If you want modern enqineering but the gullwing-look then save yourself half a million quid and get one of those high-end replicas.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/...

As above what's with the Edwardian tiller and the missing bumpers? It's not a race car is it?

The Gullwing is now too collectable a vehicle to mess about with like that.

Edited by LotusOmega375D on Thursday 29th September 10:09

[Streetrod]

LotusOmega375D said:

Ridiculous waste of money. That's one step away from being a replica IMO. If you want modern enqineering but the gullwing-look then save yourself half a million quid and get one of those high-end replicas.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/...

As above what's with the Edwardian tiller and the missing bumpers? It's not a race car is it?

The Gullwing is now too collectable a vehicle to mess about with like that.

Edited by LotusOmega375D on Thursday 29th September 10:09

Let’s not forget that the original was virtually destroyed in the fire. They managed to save the chassis. To have returned the car to is original steel shell you would have had to replace most of it anyway. So they took the pragmatic approach and built a new Ali body instead. Real ali bodied 300SL's are mega rare and sell for well over a million.

1400 300SL's Gullwings were built, so yes it is a rare car but no where near as rare as many other classic cars.

Many Gullwings have had updates to make them more liveable, this I think just takes it a small step further

[Hugo a Gogo]

I love it

bin stupid wheel and get the original back on

at that price, it's hardly about vfm any more

[mph]

I have no problem with modifying classic cars but this is too rare and valuable to go this far with.

I would also have though that if they's have rebuilt it as original it would have been worth more.

[Hugo a Gogo]

I don't think gullwings are actually that rare, surely 90% of them at least still exist?

I remember at techno classica in Essen a couple of years ago there were at least 30 of them at that one show

[LotusOmega375D]

You're right in saying that it isn't THAT rare, but these have been the benchmark vehicle for collectors the world-over for a few years now. They're a "must have" for any descerning collector, so the demand for standard cars is strong.

Modifying it just makes it less valuable.

Everyone knows that the swing axles are sh!t, but that's how they made 'em. Do you think the restorer should have somehow changed the door mechanism to regular opening like a roadster, so that the occupants don't get a bucket full of rainwater on their lap when you want they get in/out of a wet car, or so that you don't get burned alive if you roll it onto its roof? It would make sense to do that, but owning a car like this is not about being sensible, that's why the "inferior" coupé is always worth more than the improved roadster.