Gullwing 300 SL found
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65sporty
Old Man with a Hat
That's cool, I breezed over the story and his numbers don't line up to me. He says it's worth 900,000 the way it sits, 1.3 mil concours restored. The resto would cost 500,000. So you would have 1.4 mil into a car worth 1.3 mil
70NEWYORKER
Well-Known Member
Simple : No matter what you are restoring you WILL be upside down when it's finished.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Stop it. You'd have a heart attack if that was your storage unit and you rolled up the door for the first time.
cm23uoc
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Put on a flame Job, drive as is and enter the Show circuit.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
The person who commissioned that had to go into hiding when it made it's public debut.
Only in that I would sell it asap. There is nothing about those cars that I find appealing in any way.
330dTA
Senior Member
I always thought these were the coolest machines of the ’50. It was expensive as new, expensive on the ’60’s when it was ”just a used car”, and the prices have been skyrocketing for at least thirty years now. - For someone owning a restoration shop this could still be a sound purchase, in spite of the totally insane asking price. Yes, it probably does cost 500 K to restore it if you have to outsource the job, but if you are able to do it yourself, it would be less. After all they state that everything is there, and there is supposed to be no rust.
fc7_plumcrazy
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I never cared for them.
Same goes for the flat hammered Beetles (Porsches)
Same goes for the flat hammered Beetles (Porsches)
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I think these cars are gorgeous. What I don't get is why a car built in 54' would be stripped to be painted in the mid 50's as stated in the article.
"According to Warner, the car was stripped of its original paint in the mid 1950s and given a coat of primer, but never repainted.
"According to Warner, the car was stripped of its original paint in the mid 1950s and given a coat of primer, but never repainted.
78Brougham
"Chump"
If they have all the parts for it, like they say they do, how could it cost half a million to restore? C'mon... Really?
330dTA
Senior Member
It bugs me, too. All I can think of is this: Perhaps it was stolen with the intention of a respray and a quick sale, but something interrupted the job, and they pushed it into a hide-away. Then the crooks got cought, but the car was never found. Time goes by, the crime is forgotten because the detectives inspecting it have retired long time ago. And so forth.
On easter, I visited the annual Helsinki US car show. Amongst the American iron there were other vehicles, too. For instance one Finnish 2001 Lamborghini Gallardo, which had been stolen when only a few years old. Turned out, It had been sold to Russia, where it had spent the last 14 years. Then it was found, half dismantled (like this ’54 Gullwing), and overspayed from orange to silver. An insurance company was now auctioning it, some parts missing. For instance the side windows, most of the interior, and chromium trim pieces.
Actually... That was a Von Dutch paint job for a guy named Earle Bruce.
“After I turned this thing loose on the world it caused accidents,” recalled Von Dutch. “People couldn’t accept a flamed 300 SL Gullwing back then. They thought I desecrated a shrine.”
Von Dutch and the 'flamed' Mercedes 300 SL
The Earl Bruce 300 SL | The Jalopy Journal The Jalopy Journal
This was outside the fish fry in the next town a couple years ago. Note the Soccer Mom van within door ding distance.
Samplingman
Old Man with a Hat
Slap it together, clear coat and call it a rat-wing. Cars were made to be driven, make it so.
cm23uoc
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We had a guy in our neighborhood who had an SL Roadster as a DD and the gullwing for nice weather driving.
You don't seem to like anything German, whatever the year.
For a 1954 vehicle, this car is stunning in design. Look at the dowdy Chryslers by comparison. Night and day. And gull wing doors back then - they were far ahead of the Americans. That the doors still work nice after 60 years was also impressive. Everyone I have ever seen in person was awesome and solidly well built. They have the value they do for good reasons.
Chrysler fixed their "dowdy" looks in '55, and as far as the MB being "stunning",well all I can say to that is, that's why they paint cars different colors, because IMO those things are butt-ugly. Regarding the gull wing doors, and them being "far ahead of the Americans" the MB cost over 3 times more than a '54 New Yorker Deluxe, you know, production cars. Unlike the MB that was made for those evil 1 percenters. And having some experience with German engineering, I would be utterly shocked if the gull wing doors still "worked nice" on an average UNRESTORED car that was stored and treated like your average '54 Chrysler(if you could find one), actually I would be amazed if the doors worked at all.
fc7_plumcrazy
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true.
I don't really care for most cars buillt in germany.
Simply because I do not like their styling.
That doesn't mean that they aren't great cars.
I just have no interest or sympathy for them.
Actually 1955 is the first year for me where I really like styling of cars that got buillt.
Welcome to the Forward look.
Carsten
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