All Entries Tagged With: "SL"
Strawberry Fields Forever: 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1960 Mercedes 190SL for sale
PRODUCED alongside the grand 300SL betweeen 1955 to 1963, the 190SL was the lesser sister to be sure. The R121 SL’s M121 1.9 liter four banger was unloved by heavy right footers for its lack of power (104 horsepower) and rough operation. That, plus a rust prone chassis has made sound examples rare for collectors over time.
Mere trifles.
Who can deny the allure of this beautiful boulevardier? The 190SL modeled aesthetically so closely to the 300SL, is by virtue of its soft arcs and gaping, tri-stared grille emblematic of the open road and the wind your hair – or – a simple cruise down Sunset. Hard to beat curb appeal, to be sure. Timeless beauty.
[eBay]
eBay Watch: 1989 Benz 560SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL
HARD to beat an R107 SL for pure curbside appeal. The ultimate boulevardier of both the 70s and 80s, it’s as if this generation Benz roadster mirrors the best, trouble free years of Michael Jackson – for those of you who appreciate Jackson, the performer. The 560SL was the most sophisticated of these SLs, though not a true 560 – in the sense that the car’s V8 seem to have the same range and oomph of the 500SL. Still, the 560SL was unique to North America – so embrace those marvelous sealed beam lamps and 5 mph bumpers. This Benz’s main coin in trade is character.
[eBay]
eBay Watch! 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1989 Mercedes 560SL For Sale
THE ULTIMATE boulevardier, the automotive experience doesn’t get much better than cruising, top-down, behind the helm of an R107 generation Benz. M.Y. 1989 being the last year for the 560SL and R107, you’d have the benefit of that generation SL’s most powerful V8 (though, sadly, not quite tuned to the same degree as the “identical” 5.6 liter in the 560SEL or 560SEC), driver’s side airbag, ABS, and the smaller variant of the regulation-third-brake lamp. That said, you will miss the 70s cat-eared headrests.
[eBay]
Suspect Sportiness: 2010 E-Class Coupe
By Gunnar Heinrich
I’M of the mind that Mercedes-Benz is really fighting like hell to be all things to all people.
Which never works. Ever. There’s accommodating and then there’s pandering – and once you pander, you’ve lost your target audience because you’ve managed to lose the plot and their trust in the process.
Mercedes can certainly do athleticism – Stuttgart hath wrought some of the baddest machines on this old block. And, indeed, Mercedes has gotten away with lithe and svelte. Consider the early generations of “Sport Light” otherwise known as the SL-Class – the Pagoda comes to mind. Even the original SLK that debuted in the 90s had a certain sporty, cute charm about its little self.
But the new E-Class coupe, which tries to draw on so many aspects of the 60s, 80s, the CLs and CLKs, Audi, Lexus, and BMW that I’m not sure what to make of it. Is it a 3-Series fighter? Probably not, given its loftier price tag. Will it do the grand tour like a Jaguar XK? Lacks the visual presence. Will it go for broke like the Infiniti G Coupe? Not as stock, it won’t.
Will it put comfort, efficiency of design, stolid but proud character first as in the W124 generation coupes and cabrios? For all the marketing associations, I don’t see that sense of purpose here.
Given that every styling gimmick has been thrown in – googley eyed four headlamp unit housing with projector beams, LED accent lights in the lower air intakes, flared wheel well arches, charred sheetmetal a.k.a. “flame surface design”, multiple sill lines, and two panes of glass for both sets of rear windows – and that’s just the outside.
On the inside, we’ve got a C-Class interior, replete with three spoke sport wheel and low-rent instrumentation that’s meant to harken back to the original Baby Benz or 190E – a car that skimped on more than a few luxuries – and, perplexingly, fixed rear headrests à la Toyota and Honda circa 1985.
Really… what does this car want to be when it grows up?
Negotiating The Right To Build The Next SL
By Gunnar Heinrich
SINCE the debut of the R129 SL in 1989, almost every two-door model Benz has been assembled at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen. Mercedes’ corporate parent Daimler recently announced that it would re-up its commitment to the important facility by promising that the successor to the current R230 SL would be built there. Apparently, the decision wasn’t made lightly.
RennTech SL65 Burning Up
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via YouTube
SMOKE ‘em if ya got ‘em.
There’s an art to the righteous burn out. But from seeing this YouTube video, I’d say that RennTech’s boffins have taken that art to a Dali-esque level of the absurd.
Shot on a “closed course” (a.k.a. some back parking lot) somewhere in southern Florida, a driver with a certain flair for smoky showmanship lit the rear tyres of a RennTech modified Mercedes-Benz SL65 – with no fewer than 685 horses and 810 lb-ft of rubber shredding torque.
The result, as you might guess, was volcanic.
[Linked: RennTech]
ex. 3) Mark Hsieh’s CLR 600
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG © Mark Hsieh
REWIND the clock to December, 2006.
University of Coventry alum Mark Hsieh hit by a wave of Teutonic/neocon inspiration penned (virtually) the above design dubbed “CLR 600.”
Mr. Hsieh, a freelance automotive designer, created an unlikely, yet unique vision of how Mercedes-Benz might incorporate its stout past with a hyper tuned future in the form of a next generation AMG two door coupé.
As reported by Car Body Design, Mr. Hsieh drew his inspiration from – ahem – the CLS four door coupé.
But what wasn’t reported and is clearly evident in the car’s front fascia is the powerful homage to 70s/80s Benz architecture.
The bumper and simple slatted radiator speak of to the Unimog’s herculean might, while the circular headlamp lenses surrounding single projector beam units summons a militaristic likeness to the refreshened G-Wagen.
Powered, as Mr. Hsieh proposed, by a 5.6 Liter AMG V8, the coupé coupled with its no-scheißen looks would surely make ideal transport for the world’s most unscrupulous arms dealers.
[IMG: © Mark Hsieh via Car Body Design]
