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Just returned from an appointment with a fellow who bought the next car. The car got a realy interesting history



and is one of the five LAST factory build.
The first englisch owner had the licenseplate " KUT 1 "

Paul,
That is beautiful, even beyond words. I just saw a show on TV yesterday that honored the world's greatest cars. That one was in there. The Gullwing made the 3rd greatest in the arena of super cars.

I had a friend whose dad was the CEO of a textile mill in my home town. They had a 300 roadster that was black with parchment interior. After owning it for a few years, they traded it for a new Pontaic Grand Prix (this was in the 70s). They obviously had more money than sense. Believe it or not, that MB sat on the used parking lot for sale for a month before anyone bought it. Turns out that one of my friends, Ronnie Childress, who now is the service manager for MB of Winston-Salem, NC, was taken by his father to look for a used car. They saw that roadster on the parking lot of the Pontiac place and Ronnie wanted it. It was for sale for $2,800.00. His dad said he wasn't going to buy his son any foreign car that would be a nightmare to work on, so they passed it up. Now that Ronnie is with MB of Winston-Salem, YOU SHOULD HEAR HIM CRY IN HIS BEER ABOUT THAT CAR!



Michael Edwin Freed

Paul,

If the new owner is Dutch speaking, let's hope he changed the number plate!!!
Werner

Paul,

If the new owner is Dutch speaking, let's hope he changed the number plate!!!
Werner

Hi Werner,

Yes that fellow is dutch and the car has now a oldfashion darkblue dutch Licenseplate.

Just a minute ago, I saw at my neighbours :

OK, the car I understand, but a telephone kiosk??

That's a bird - cage.

In that time (1952) there was probably no mobile carphone .........
So they had to stop everytime , and unload that telephonekiosk ...

Craig S's 300B is the same color,Quite a nice shade .

quote:

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12-14-2004, 11:49 PM #8
Tom Hanson
MBCA Member

What the heck, try to stuff a MB 6.9 liter V8 in it. What a machine that would be..
__________________
Tom Hanson
Orange County Section

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The free days around Christmas I have used to start a registery for the Gullwing and roadsters.

Now I have already 121 identified Coupes and 114 identified Roadsters in my database and collection pictures.

As far as I now can conclude, these cars never were delivered in RHD ... even not in the UK South Africa or Australia ...
Is that correct ????

But I now found a picture from a RHD, which then should in my opinion an mirrored one ....

Who knows more about this item ?? False or right ???

Paul,

To the best of my knowledge, there were no RHD 300SL's built (either in coupé or roadster form).

So the possibility of that particular photo being altered might be correct.

Jaco van der Walt

Hi Jaco,

Thank you for your message. [:D]
That confirms my thoughts.
Then the car should like this :

Not necessarilly. In Australia, several Gullwings and Roadsters were converted to RHD despite the factory saying that it could not be done - I think 5 altogether. They were done in the 1960's. I cannot recall the name of the man who did them just at the moment, but I can easilly find out. A couple of them have been reconverted to LHD during restoration work. If that picture is from Australia, it may be correct.

The reason that the cars were converted at the time was because in most states, it was illegal to drive a LHD car. When I was young, it was common for me to see a Willy's Jeep driving along with a LHD sign on the back and there were a few LHD American cars as well. They all disappeared by the 1960's because of the law changes. If someone wanted to own a 300SL and drive it, they could only do so by converting it. It was not a minor change because the whole dashboard had to be cut up and reversed as well as the steering box and linkage changes.

I will have some pictures but not quickly to hand.
Art

Hi Art,

That would be great to know and have ....

I have one australian car found: ATX 18S in beige (identified)
It was ordered by the shah of persia as a gift for his wife.





Here is a second one that is rebuild to RHD, not identified ... :

Paul,

My friend Wolf Grodd knows all the RHD conversion cars. He owned one of the Roadsters, a red one that is now owned by Ray Eastwood in Adelaide. He can tell us whose car that is in Melbourne. He will also know the other silver car. It has probably been in his workshop based on the knock off polished wheels. He had sets of wheels and stub axles made for this conversion.

I did not know that Wolf would sell his red roadster when I first knew him in the 1980's or I would have bought it. He sold it to Hans Schmidt in Melbourne (whom Craig Tucker knows well) in 1984 and I didn't know about the sale till after it was complete. A missed oportunity if ever there was one.

I don't have any record of the chassis numbers of any of them and doubt Wolf would have either, but the Gullwing Group, based in the USA have complete records of every chassis, what happened to them and who the current owners are. I don't know whether they would share any information with you, but you are essentially redoing what they have already done.
Art

Hi Art,

did not know they have other records then the Vin + motornumbers and the changes in the production.

When I look/hunt for M100-Vin, then I also can simply store what I find from the W198 [:D]

here one non to RHD changed W198 not identified:

This was interesting car (as indeed most of them were) as I understand it was owned by Jumbo Goddard who had Arthur Rizzo in Sydney Convert it to RHD .It was Black originally. it was then sold to various owners until it was restored in Vic. Race driver Vern Shuppan bought it and had Wolf Grodd Restore it .It is now creamy color with burgundy seats plus it was returned to left hand drive.
Wolf also converted a gullwing to RHD years ago for a customer in Hong Kong.

quote:

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12-14-2004, 11:49 PM #8
Tom Hanson
MBCA Member

What the heck, try to stuff a MB 6.9 liter V8 in it. What a machine that would be..
__________________
Tom Hanson
Orange County Section

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Here is one of the RHD conversions,(#unknown) owned by Jack Jeffries and Peter Mc Grath in the 1970's




And this is a picture of martin Kass's Father in law taking delivery of his New Gullwing from the dealers,Jack Jeffries,Dover Heights,Sydney.

quote:

---

12-14-2004, 11:49 PM #8
Tom Hanson
MBCA Member

What the heck, try to stuff a MB 6.9 liter V8 in it. What a machine that would be..
__________________
Tom Hanson
Orange County Section

---

prototype 00002 is now fresh restored in the Classic Centre Felbach:





Number 00001 is wrecked. So this is the oldest.

I have now 10 % from the produced gullwings identified and also 10 % from the roadsters ....
[:D]

plus some replica's ....
There are now today "more then ever official produced" .....