Mercedes-Benz 280SL Pagoda (1971)
Desgined by Paul Bracq & Bela Barenyi. The Pagoda name comes from the style of the hard-top roof, which is visibily concave.
(Source: legendsautomotive.co.uk)
And welcome to 1939.
The place is the Nurburgring, Germany. Rudi Caracciola approaches in spectacular motion one of the most dangerous corners of the circuit, in his Mercedes W154.
The people at the Mercedes Heritage website pointed this out: notice the rails. You can’t, actually, because there aren’t any. Judging by the angle of the rear end of that Mercedes, this move took some serious courage. I say courage, but I really means balls.
Juan Manuel Fangio
1954, Swiss Grand Prix. Fangio drives the Mercedes W196, which turns out to have been the first F1 car with direct injection.
Mercedes-Benz 280 SE (1969)
I keep showing appreciation for the SL’s passionate design, and very rarely these saloons (quite literally saloons).
It just so happens that I saw one of these a few days ago, while driving back from the beach on a very sunny day. I never accounted for the cool factor these W108 have when properly maintained. I was green with envy and immediately wanted to sell my car.
Mercedes-Benz 300SL (1961)
The trips that asaucerfulofwheels often makes me do to Classic Driver UK usually end up in serious frustration :)
This gorgeous example of the 300SL could be yours (or mine) for only €650.000. Whoever said that money doesn’t buy happiness clearly didn’t have any passions.
Now, where’s that Euromillions ticket of mine?…
Mercedes-Benz 190SL W121 (1956)
I actually met the owner of this 190SL and everytime he was talking, I felt like brutally attacking him like a jealous cougar (yes, cougars have quite the reputation for jealousy. The animal kingdom is a bitch).
I’ve said this a couple of times before and I’ll say it again: portuguese license plates are the best for vintage cars. Those white numbers extrude at about 1.2 inches from the plate itself. They’re gorgeous.
Fangio, Kling & Ascari, Reims Grand Prix, 1954.
The first two on the W196 Benz and Ascari on the Maserati 250F.
International Motor Sports Show in New York, 1955.
The premiere of the Mercedes-Benz 190SL & 300SL was about to turn a couple of pages in the book of automotive history.
