Golden Era Craftsmanship: Benz 300Sc
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Hemmings
FITTING squarely into the they-don’t-make-’em-like-they-used-to column and following a recent thread from commentator exemplar Jim, we find this achingly polished Mercedes-Benz 300Sc on Hemmings.
Hailing from West Germany’s Adenauer days – the 1957 300Sc’s four door stablemate was knicknamed after the first kansler – there’s some cause for Gullwing Motors of Astoria, NY to ask $225,000 for this fire-engine red over camel Benz coupe.
For one: the 300Sc was/is exclusive. Only a few hundred were produced. Cosmetically it cossetted: actual chrome (not plastic) and internal bright work, hard woods, and thick cow hides.
Mechanically, the Benz was engineered a decade hence of its 50s rivals: featuring a swing-axle rear suspension and fuel injected straight six. One hundred twelve miles per hour the 300Sc’s top speed – faster, it should be said, than plenty of BMWs and Benzes to follow in the 70s and 80s.
The dealer claims this an “original” car, which may be a nice way of circumventing the word “restored”. What makes this Benz a special buy is that it built from the iron-ore days of motoring. Cost-no-object engineering (though, it must’ve been a factor in postwar days) couples with deluxe materials and attention to detail.
A tangible quality and rarity that a current CL600 is hard-pressed to match. This bulbous two-door was Germany’s Rolls-Royce.
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About the Author: Gunnar Heinrich is publisher of Automobiles De Luxe online and is executive producer of the Automobiles De Luxe Television series on PBS member station CPTV.
Jim | Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
See, see, I told ya.
Lovely car, but an investment.
As an enthusiast, I’ve come to the conclusion that if I were allocating a $100K to spend on an automobile, I’d much rather find a pristine W108-W126 (preferably a W112) S than a new S, and get an Accord for a daily driver.
The Accord would be 6-7 tenths the car a S550 is while the 550 is no where near the car that its predecessors were.