Interesting and brief article of a guy who tracked down a pretty much derelict 300SL in Cuba:

http://www.expeditionportal.co...-cuban-gullwing.html

I'd fuck fish underwater to own one of those!

What a lucky man he is!

close to 30 years ago i went to a house just north of boston mass. to look at a 280 ce for sale ,the owner had a 15 car garaged mostly antique ,including a silver ghost rolls ,a three wheeled french car(not sure of the name) ,a morgan ,and a 300sl convertible which he told me he had bought new in germany while living there ,drove it all around europe for na few years then had it shipped to the US ,i hadnt been driven much back in the states and was just sitting in his garage indoors ,and at the time when i met the owner he was in his late 70s ,his only relative was his 40 something daughter who had down syndrome living with him , amazingly he had a copy of hemmings with him and told me he was looking at a car in michigan ,not sure whatever happened to him and the cars i guess he thought he,d be around forever , he did use a friend of mine to do some light restoration of the morgan ,,but i,ll alaways remember the incredible original condition of that 300sl.....paul

There is one in Roseburg, Oregon which belongs to an older retired business fellow. He has had it many years. I have ridden in it, and it is in very nice shape...never been abused; always carefully garaged and not driven in the winter rains.
I do not recall the owner's name off hand, but Dan Dillman of "Diamond Dan's guns, gold, and jewelry shop can certainly tell you who owns it (541) 672-2761. After 30 years in business there, he knows everyone in the county, old, young, and in between, and pretty much what turns the crank of each one of them.


I have never heard of the owner offering it for sale, but who knows? If he is still alive he is getting pretty crispy by now, like me.
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In the early 60's I turned a roadster down in California. It had a pretty damaged rt rear fender and since they were hand formed and not available I wouldn't buy it. I bought a Lotus Elite coupe instead. Always regretted that deal. The fiberglas was almost as difficult to work on as the aluminum. The diff was bolted to a box in the body that had pieces of granite ,I think, in it and the bolts had a bad habit of working loose. Major job to repair properly. Always figured the SLR wouldn't have been any more difficult. The SLR and DB4 were the only cars I ever really wanted I never had.

Back when Studebaker was the Mercedes distributor my folks ordered one to be picked up in Europe.

According to my Dad they were met by a Mercedes Rep at the airport and driven to the factory where they were given a tour while there car was getting final prep for delivery. He said my Mom ask (in German) the person giving the tour how long they could expect the car to last? Dad said the rep gave her a stony look and said - in German - "You've bought the last car you will ever need".

Mom never felt comfortable driving it and they sold it before I was old enough to drive it.

A long time ago, when I was but a snivilin' punk 16-yr-old and working at a grocery store, I carried groceries out to a 300Sl Gullwing that had had the back end chopped off and made into a pickup! Even then I knew the car's owner didn't have the brains God gave a gerbil.

In the late 70's my brother and I were travelling along the New England Highway behind a silver 300 SL (?) Mercedes coupe with a strange doorline.

The number plates 300- GW made the penny drop. I'd only ever heard of them.........and this is the only one I've seen.

I read that only two of them came here.

Going to high school in Munich, W. Germany as a military dependent, saw my first MB gull wing wrapped around a tree, wrecked........