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Classic Car Porn: 1955 Mercedes 300SL

I've never really been a Mercedes guy (though I've owned a few) but if I were buying now, I'd be looking for one of these.

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I've never really been a Mercedes guy (though I've owned a few) but if I were buying now, I'd be looking for one of these.

465131-900-0.jpg

I grew up with them all my life -- my dad got them as safe family cars. (He had MGs, Austin Healeys before he had kids.) My fav (family) Merc was my mum's 500SL:

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My personal fav is the Gull-wing:

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My personal cars have always been boy-racers/rocket pockets. I basically have not or really have not had to grow up since I left IU.
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With the move to Penang next year, I will basically be neutered -- getting a 4wheel-drive SUV. :( I will need to learn how to drive one without flipping it over!

It's more practical considering the location; it's on the side of a hill -- worried about landslides, monsoons.

And potential road-trips to Southern Thailand, which may be a bit dodgy/less civilised (equivalent to Tijuana, but lesser degree -- less dismembering of people but similar fun nocturnally.
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Tbh it was painful to watch -- either not a good driver or car? What sort of test run is it when the driver has to slow down in bends? The most fun part of fast driving is through wavey, twisty mountainous roads imo. Downshifting to 2nd then upshift as you turn up.

Either the car is highly unstable and built for straight lines only or the driver doesn't know this car well. (Caveat: I have never driven a 427 Cobra, though I did have a Mustang Cobra at IU. Chick mobile.)

I had a couple of cars that have 50/50 weight distribution and rear-wheel drives. They are the most fun driving at speed into corners. Shunted it once intentionally on a highway at a bend during a rainstorm; all the lights were flashing on the dashboard.
 
Tbh it was painful to watch -- either not a good driver or car? What sort of test run is it when the driver has to slow down in bends? The most fun part of fast driving is through wavey, twisty mountainous roads imo. Downshifting to 2nd then upshift as you turn up.

Either the car is highly unstable and built for straight lines only or the driver doesn't know this car well. (Caveat: I have never driven a 427 Cobra, though I did have a Mustang Cobra at IU. Chick mobile.)

I had a couple of cars that have 50/50 weight distribution and rear-wheel drives. They are the most fun driving at speed into corners. Shunted it once intentionally on a highway at a bend during a rainstorm; all the lights were flashing on the dashboard.
If that's a real cobra, then it's a driver issue. Of course if it's a real Mark III, it would be hard to thrash around in a 7 figure car on public streets in good conscience.
 
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I thought it was more of a test drive or the car was on loan somehow just to make the video. Maybe a salesman, I don't know. It was obvious he took no chances with the curves in the road or any traffic. I did get some idea of the acceleration on the straightaways though.
 
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I thought it was more of a test drive or the car was on loan somehow just to make the video. Maybe a salesman, I don't know. It was obvious he took no chances with the curves in the road or any traffic. I did get some idea of the acceleration on the straightaways though.



I suspect the Cobra is quite front heavy like a shuttlecock -- judging from the way the guy took the corners, like he didnt trust the back from swinging out. Or he hasnt heard of apex.
 


I suspect the Cobra is quite front heavy like a shuttlecock -- judging from the way the guy took the corners, like he didnt trust the back from swinging out. Or he hasnt heard of apex.


Still a little dizzy after watching, Italy? Spain?

I don't see how it could be anything but front heavy, small English sports car with a big Ford wedged into it.
 
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Still a little dizzy after watching, Italy? Spain?

I don't see how it could be anything but front heavy, small English sports car with a big Ford wedged into it.

Majorca, Spain. Had some sweet & sour memories there.

The roads can be quite steep there. I was standing at the back of the bus one day when the bus took a sharpish turn. Some of the passengers further in the bus only saw blue skies and emerald waters below the front of the bus' windscreen.

They proceeded to yell hysterically which in turn made my heart skip a few beats. I too was then thinking we were about to go off the cliff -- and then had quick self-reflection on my life as a 10th grader; thinking was about to end, thanking my parents etc for my life
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Beautiful strawberry blonde (from San Sabastian) I met there was one of those that I would wake up thinking at night thinking, this can't be happening type female. I guess she has some yellow fever and I was it. (She was like much older, like 16months older!)

I was so pissed out my mind one day and failed to recognise her at some Majorca disco we were supposed to meet that night. Started flirting with someone else nearby her! Got dumped by her then. My Spanish has never been the same since.

I am sure I married my ex to re-live my youth! (She was dishwater blonde whose parents were from Madrid.) That crashed and burn! Got married on an island too. Should have told that to my shrink then. May explain a few things today. :(
 
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If that's a real cobra, then it's a driver issue. Of course if it's a real Mark III, it would be hard to thrash around in a 7 figure car on public streets in good conscience.

It's not an original Cobra. It's a replica made by Factory Five Racing. They are allegedly built to the original specs performance specs.
 
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When I was a teenager I worked for an elderly couple who were friends of the family. I worked about 10-15 hours a week from spring to fall tending the garden perennials, planting annuals, landscaping and mowing as well as upkeep on the pool. A few of the nicer parts of the gig were being able to use the pool with friends and making 10 bucks an hour cash, which was over 3 times the minimum wage. But the best part of the job for a teen who loved cars was when I finally got my license, she had me drive her husband's 1965 Riviera Gran Sport in the spring and the fall to the car wash. Her husband couldn't get around any more. He was an engineer with GM and had the car custom built/ordered for himself. Black on Black hardtop with all the goodies. With the 425 Wildcat that thing would shit and get. One of the highlights of my teen years was driving that car. It only had 27k miles on it, was garage kept all it's life and was in pristine condition. I found out later after they had both passed that the car sold for like $4k at the estate sale.

I just saw where one sold for 6 figures recently.

 
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To each their own, but I've never understood the appeal of various cars as anything other than transportation. I call Barrett Jackson Shows "Little Pecker Conventions" because the people there with their car collections are just filling a void in their 'masculinity' that is otherwise missing LOL
 
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I have owned 4 German cars, 2 VWs and 2 BMWs. I still have one BMW but the one I miss the most is the '65 Beetle. It had an engine built by a family friend that owned a foreign car shop. His son drag raced a VW and he built my engine as milder version of his race engine. He estimated it had 150 hp. Pretty good since the original engine had 40 hp. I destroyed the clutch and throw out bearing the first time I stood on the engine after breaking it in.

Man, that car was a lot of fun! It had headers and a single glass pack. When it was cold and still running rich, flames would shoot out of the glass pack after getting the revs up and coasting or while engine braking. It was especially visible at night.
AO61WiT
 
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Man, that car was a lot of fun! It had headers and a single glass pack. When it was cold and still running rich, flames would shoot out of the glass pack after getting the revs up and coasting or while engine braking. It was especially visible at night.
AO61WiT

I see why there were so many alleged UFO sightings now. It can now all be explained. IUBud and his VW.

You have just killed off a cottage industry.
 
I see why there were so many alleged UFO sightings now. It can now all be explained. IUBud and his VW.

You have just killed off a cottage industry.
One negative was that it was impossible to sneak home. We had a long driveway that went uphill. I couldn't make the turn with enough speed to park it dead stick.
 
Had a few of them own self. My biggest regret is giving away a 23 window van with a roll back roof, cause it was too cold in the winter. What can I say, I was young and way stooopid, I'm older now.

I still hold VW as the standard for consumer transportation, what, a gillion cars with the same engine and interchangeable parts. A good mechanic could drop an engine in mins. instead of hours.
 
My dad and I went to an IU football game once. Drove north in a crappy green Ford LTD. Came back in a yellow 66 Mustang 3 speed.
I bought my sister's red '65 Mustang that she had driven everyday to ISU. It was my project in the time after getting married and buying my first house. It also had a 3 speed with a 200 c.i. straight 6. The transmission was crap even after getting it rebuilt.

I kept that car for 20 years when it was time for a complete mechanical overhaul. I wasn't into that again so I sold it at a car show.
Had a few of them own self. My biggest regret is giving away a 23 window van with a roll back roof, cause it was too cold in the winter. What can I say, I was young and way stooopid, I'm older now.

I still hold VW as the standard for consumer transportation, what, a gillion cars with the same engine and interchangeable parts. A good mechanic could drop an engine in mins. instead of hours.
My VW was in our family since I was born and for a time. It was as old as I was. My '65 replaced a '62 that my dad totaled. We would often get a VW bus as a loaner when our Beetle was in the shop. I loved riding in those and I have always wanted one of the older versions. I would love someone to give me one of those.

My mom blew the engine in the '65. I went with my dad to pull the engine out of a wrecked car. His friend told him how to take it out. Four bolts and it was out. We lifted the back of the car up with the bucket on a tractor and slid the car away.

I imagine the bus was cold. The heater in my '65 sucked until I installed the new engine with a custom exhaust. It blew hot air out of openings under the rear seat and front floor boards like a heat gun on steroids. I net it too forever to get warm with all that space and windows.
 
Damn, in my opinion, this Mercedes is the best car ever made by humans. Even in our days it is not very technological, even it doesn't have the biggest engine available on the market, and even it is already an old car, for me, it is the most beautiful automobile made by people. I saw one recently at https://www.greatbritishcarjourney.com/, and to be honest, I was shocked. It is something similar to an old space rocket, everybody understands that it is old, but still, everybody wants to try it, at least once in their lives.
 
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Y'all are too high class for me. I opted to pay for college tuitions and put 300,000+ miles on Hondas.

With the last one graduating, the wife does have her eye on some convertibles though. More of the chick-like convertibles, possibly a Miata. Looks fun though.
 
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