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I bought my first MBZ in 1979 - a 1967 300SE Cabriolet that was one of 53 made in the last year of production. (Yeah, that's me in L.A. in front of my photo studio) I kept it for 42 years and finally sold it. I used the money to buy both a Toyota Highlander and this 2015 SL550 with 21K miles (PALLADIUM SILVER METALLIC PAINT (792U)). Photo is on the Alpine loop road on the way to Sundance resort. I since removed the front license plate.
Last edited by Silver-Bullets; 12-30-2021 at 03:47 AM.
Reason: Spelling errors
me: 2015 SL400 & 2015 ML400; wife: 2022 GLC Coupe kid: 2017 GLC SUV
Originally Posted by Silver-Bullets
I bought my first MBZ in 1979 - a 1967 300SE Cabriolet that was one of 53 made in the last year of production. (Yeah, that's me in L.A. in front of my photo studio) I kept it for 42 years and finally sold it.
dude, you have got to tell us more about that 42 year journey!! At the very least what you paid and what you sold it for. Did you just take incredible care of it or did you do restoration projects?
I bought the 1967 300SE Cabriolet in L.A. for $11,500 from a television actress. Drove it for 8 years while I had my commercial photo studio doing movie posters, record album covers and Corporate advertising. I had the famous Dick Brown redo all the Burreled Walnut wood in the car with 20 layers of clear Varithane that looked stunning. Had a leak in the rear suspension (air bags) and took it in for repair. Someone in the shop stole my wood under the windshield and the speaker grill.
My father was a retired mechanic so he started working on some of the issues when it fell off the jacks and killed him. Even though the Transmission was starting to act up I drove it to Utah to take a Senior Photographer's position for the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I had a new job, didn't sell my house in L.A. and trying to build a new house took all my energy and focus. I knew it would be a major task to restore it and Every time I thought about the car, it reminded me of my father so I just let it sit in the garage for 33 years. I just didn't have the passion, heart or money to restore it.
In April 2020, I went online to find out what it was worth. I started to get inquiries and low-ball offers. Two brokers started to send offers and phone calls. Peter Kumar of 300 Gullwing in N.Y. and Alex Manos of Beverly Hills Car Club. - I ended up selling it to Alex. He wired the money to my account without ever seeing the car. He has a list of cars that people want him to find. He doesn't restore them, just moves them. I sold it for $65,500 in not running condition. That's equivalent to $45,500 in 2020. It looked the same but the Transmission had issues with the secondary pump (no 2nd & 3rd gear), and I didn't want to spend the $$ and mental energy restoring it, so I bought the SL550 for $43,000 to start over.
So that's my story. I'm OK with letting it go. I enjoy having the newer technology and engineering of today to drive.
me: 2015 SL400 & 2015 ML400; wife: 2022 GLC Coupe kid: 2017 GLC SUV
OMG!! I knew it would a helluva story but that totally exceeded my expectations! I am so sorry for the loss of your father and can only imagine what a reminder of grief it became! Around the same time as you bought it, my dad was taking me shopping for my first car, and my dad's idea of a great car was the cars of HIS youth, not mine. We scoured lots and driveways looking at old Fords, Buicks and the like, and in one country yard I saw a Mercedes gullwing, good condition. It was 1975 and I asked how much it was....$7500 the guy says. "I could buy a new Cadillac for that" my dad replied! I ended up with a 1953 Cadillac Fleetwood that was about $1500 and nothing but trouble as a daily driver for a 16 year old. That gullwing would be worth at least a million now. You did well with yours; I've shopped them once in a while. I've seen some that are in decent running condition in the $65,000-$75,000 range!
I haven't decided how to deal with the license plate holes in the front yet.
Utah law says I have to have a plate on the front, but will not give me a ticket just for that.
If I'm stopped for another violation, they can add on the license plate issue at that point.
I thought about oiling the threads and adding a rubberized material, painting it so that I can easily remove if I
have the need to attach the plate again. Thoughts?
My father-in-law said about the same thing when my wife and I bought an antique
dinning room table and sideboard.
$7500 would have been a steal for a gullwing for sure. Sorry you settled for the Caddy
after looking at your cookie jar assets.
Back in the 70's my brother-in-law was asked to join some of his fellow workers in a
new company. He declined BC of needing to support his large family, insurance, steady income blah blah.
The guy was Ray Norda who started NOVELL. He could have been in the first 7 original founders..... UGH!!
Thanks for the comments - she is nowhere near perfect, but will be a fun daily driver (almost).
The wheels are 19” KMC 685 8.5” front and 9.5” with a little more convex shape on the rear that the prior owner put on back in Aug 2016…. And look to have held up pretty well for almost 6 years and 50K miles. One has a little damage so I will either have them refurb’d or replaced when it needs it’s next set of tires. Not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’, but I really like the look.
2014 SL550 Diamond White Metallic, Silk Beige/Espresso Brown Nappa Leather
I've been wanting an SL for years, just never the right time until now. Purchased this 2014 SL550 in April of this year (2022) from the original selling and servicing dealer in Newport Beach, CA. Had it shipped out to me in Pennsylvania via "Horseless Carriage" covered auto carrier. Had 39,000 miles on it. Perfect CarFax. Mint condition. This was my reward to myself (with wife's whole hearted support) for surviving major 10+ hour cancer surgery in March, and now being cancer free! We both love the SL, and enjoy top down cruising whenever the weather here in Pennsylvania permits. I will at some point replace the run flat tires with non run flats to improve ride and handling. Only things I've done to it so far is put Mercedes Benz logo tire valve caps on (very small but nice detail upgrade), and reprogrammed the radio to add front/rear speaker balance control.
12-03-2021, 01:54 PM
