Visual freakin’ impact man, this thing is seven different kinds of badass. It’s a shame original ones are too “valuable/classic” for 99% of thier owners to consider modifying them, because they wear it well. Having said that it doesn’t make sense for me to say I wish they had kept it more original and period correct under the hood, but I would much rather be looking at 3 big carbs and a lot less plastic under there.
There are some cars you just know you will never see on the road. And then sometimes you get a surprise. I was driving back to work today, it was overcast, about 30 degrees with some snow blowing around but not sticking to the road and my jaw dropped, I could barely wrap my brain around what my eyes were seeing. A real deal ’55-’57 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing. Literally 1 million dollars in shitty Ohio winter weather in rush hour traffic. I managed to get behind it and it was breath taking. It was in perfect shape but I don’t think it had even been restored, it was not shiney, just a beautiful even smooth dulled silver over red interior with undamaged but not show quality chrome. It was wearing 1956 Ohio plates which I’m pretty sure is illegal as hell here. It very calmly puttered away from the red light we were at and I had to give my poor D16Y7 hell to get beside it and there is Eric Clapton! This may sound absurd to you, but believe it or not he lives about 2 miles down the road from me here in Columbus, Ohio. His current wife is from Columbus and they keep a house but I don’t think he spends a lot of time here, although he has been known to frequent the athletic club down the street. But really the driver was irrelevant, the car was clearly the bigger star, to see something that iconic, rare, valuable and historically significant being used as “just a car” was once in a lifetime.
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