How rare are these things? I just read about it in the top ten car thread and have heard alot more about it from others. Reason for asking is because I was waiting for the bus today and one just drove past, I dont think Ive ever seen one before although Ive only known about the car for maybe 2 years now so i havent really been on the lookout for one

 

fawk wrong forum...can a mod move to car talk plz

thanks

 

i can't believe you failed us...

 

 

I think they are pretty rare (on the road). I remember actually seeing one about 3 weeks ago when I walked out of a restarant and eventhough I've seen a gizzillion pictures of it I can say that picture do that car no justice. It almost looks exotic in person.

 

saw one at a car show.... never on the street...even my jaded teen-ager thought i was cool when he saw a pic of it!

 

never see one on the road just online

 

Just wanted to guage how rare these things are. I freaked out when I saw it and called a few of my friends. Seeing older rare cars beats seeing exotic lambos and ferarris. If i wanted to see those id goto the beach

 

Moved.

 

suprised someone would drive around their 300SL. that seems almost idiotic.

 

It was about 7 am when I saw it and there was no other car on the road, I mean that would most likely be the best time to take out a car thats so rare

 

eh, its not the issue.

cars this rare should not be driven. the only exception is to or from a local show.

the owner could do whatever he wants with it. but generally speaking, it shouldnt be done.

 

I think all cars are meant to be driven. I think Leno does it right to drive all his cars.

I've seen a 300sl gulliwing driving near my parents house in LA. It was driving along side us, and I was nervous. Maybe I just don't like driving near really rare cars worth 250-300k or so. but I was still excited to see one on the road.

was the one you saw a gullwing? They also had a roadster version I think. I think there were less than 2k of each made, the gullwing being more rare than the roadster.

 

yeah, what reason would there be to have a rare car and not ever drive it? monetary reasons? I agree, cars should be driven, not as daily drivers, but if you're going to spend a ton of money, you enjoy it, not just look at it. That and really it's not good for the car to never drive it.

 

id think a guy from cooperstown would understand the value of collectables. j/p

 

+1 on driving the car

It was a gullwing

 

why? you would rather sit in a garage with a heater and watch the metal soak up the heat instead?

 

See them on Mecum sometimes.

 

Gullwings - Relatively rare (@ 1,400 made from '54-'57), but many excellent to pristine examples survive. Incredible technology and reliability for the period, and many many race wins in high profile series. Beautiful styling too. All the tools for a fine collectable. Incidentally, it was the first production road car to come with fuel injection.

I've spoken to a few owners over the years, and they all say they're terrific cars to drive. The downside I've also heard (unanimously) is that the enclosed cabins can get murderously hot in balmy sunny weather. None of the windows go down you see......

The Gullwing turned into the Roadster which was in production from '58 - '63. It retained essentially all of the coupe's technology and continued the model's popularity. The same running gear was retained, the roadster weighs @ 100lbs. more. They made somewhere just shy of 2,000 roadsters I think. I personally like the roadster much more; the styling is terrific and they were more luxuried up. Man, those cars are awesome looking.

Prices for gullwings range from the low $200,000 range for so for or very rough examples that have expensive issues, to way over $500,000 for pristine restored examples.

http://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/...hp/carno/44884

Roadsters are cheaper, but excellent ones have passed the $250,000 mark and will continue to go up.

-Mirror

 

at first, I thought to myself wtf is that supposed to mean....but no, I dont even like baseball. The hof'ers are cool though, except whitey ford, he can be a drunken a$$hole (I work at the hotel the hof'ers stay at.)

I totally understand collectibles, but this isnt the same as throwing around a signed baseball, just because it's a baseball and needs to be thrown. However this does bring up a good point, that it does depend on the car and the person owning as to whether and how much the car is driven.

Not to drag this out but this reminds me of a guest we had there, he bought a new mustang convertible got Yankees graphics put on the car and than "stalked" a poor player to sign his car. Now normally this would be cool, but it was a V6 mustang. As I said to my coworkers "I can just see this at barrett jackson one day; now we've got a 2008 cough cough V6 mustang convertible signed by......" wtf is the point. I mean you know this guy isnt going to drive this car much, because it's signed, but come on, that is not a collectible, he should have just bought a damned baseball, instead of looking like a tool.

 

Someone in my town has one and drives it on occasion. I've been seeing it here and there since the early 90's. Whether it is actually an original or some type of kit/custom replica I don't know, I've never caught him at a standstill to ask him.

 

Crazy story, our neighbor growing up was a car guy too, we always talked shop and would help each other work on projects....we lived next door to each other for about 12 years when one day this White 300SL Gullwing pulls out......I was stunned, turned out he had owned it the WHOLE time we just never knew!!!

 

or in reverse, I know a guy that had a 1987 Lincoln towncar with 28kmi, mint, like showroom condition, in his garage covered for 10yrs. One day he decides to reveal it to the world and brings it to our local socializing club(dont want to be specific here). Everyone said wow, where he get that from......but later we were saying why in the hell did he keep a lincoln town car! It's not nearly as amazing as ANY classic merc or even say an 87' buick gnx. just more...why? he sold it 6 months after the unveiling.

I should add, he doesnt even own an american car now at all, lexus and an acura.

 

sorry, didnt mean you to read that much into it.

maybe i cannot appreciate the fact that owning high priced collectables means that you restrict yourself from adding miles.

if i had a couple MM to throw around in vehicles, i would not purchase those that i could not enjoy. et. al. classics.

 

I saw the 300SL at the Mercedes factory museum in Stuttgart some years ago. It's at the central factory area, near Daimler Stadion (their football pitch, err...Soccer field). Anyway, There were a lot of amazing cars. I'll try to dig up my pictures.

They charged around 15 DM ($7 bucks) to get in, and they didn't even sell a coffee cup. Bastards

The Porsche museum in Zuffenhausen was free, and they sold coffee cups (I have a 911 Targa cup, the old whale tail model)....