In late April, RM Auctions sold a mint Ferrari 330 GTS for nearly $2 million. One month later a one-off Aston DB4 GT (the very cool Bertone-designed Jet) found a new home for a shade under $5 million, just a couple weeks before a Ferrari 340/375MM sold for $13+ million at Villa d’Este. Then Bonhams blew those prices out of the water when a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 F1 brought $29.6+ million, setting a world record price for a car at auction…
David Douglas Duncan and “The Secret SLS”
Prototypes are the products of an intense automotive design process. They are ideas given physical form and meant to test the culmination of those ideas. Most serve their purpose and end as scrap or become forgotten embodiments of a larger production that ends up relegated to a warehouse collecting dust rarely, if ever, to be seen again. Occasionally one is found on flaccid tires, fading away in a dusty, shuttered garage, whereupon aficionados immediately elevate it from “ancient junk” to “treasured artifact.”
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLS : Father of the Brood by Winston Goodfellow
This car is the starting point of a multi-generation automotive legend, to which 500,000 cars can trace their genes. It is the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLS and, like most of its ‘children’ — every sporting Merc that has followed — chassis 8427198118/1 is a stupendous drive…
300SLS Prototype Roadster Photo Gallery by David Douglas Duncan
While doing research on the 1955 Mercedes 300SLS Prototype Roadster at the UCLA graduate research library, I came across an article titled “The Secret SLS” in Colliers Magazine by David Douglas Duncan. I proceeded to contact David in 1988 and after correspondence he was kind
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1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Prototype – Vintage Project Part II
Vintage Project, Part II 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Prototype By Scott Grundfor Body Check Restoration begins with an analysis of the car, obviously easiest if it runs and is in one piece. By simply walking around a car looking at various parts, you may be able
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Choosing the Right Car by Scott Grundfor
There are three principals in a restoration: car, restorer and client. As a client, you’ve spent time choosing the right car, waiting a long time to restore your favorite car, and the restorer’s work represents a significant investment. Here are some suggestions to help you
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How to Fix Paint Chips on Cars by Scott Grundfor
TIP: How to fix paint chips on cars A friend in the auto detailing business suggested a way to fix paint chips on cars quickly and economically. We tried it, and we could see that unless you knew exactly where the chip was, you
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Getting the Old Paint Off Cars By Scott Grundfor
Get the old paint off! Getting the old paint off cars is a skill. My friend Steve and I were sitting on the front porch one summer day in 1962 when Terry Brooks drove by in his ’51 Chevy fastback. I was astounded. When he’d
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Preparing to Paint a Car By Scott Grundfor
Priming and Block Sanding Having looked at various paint removal methods in the last issue, by now we’ve stripped the old finish to bare metal—or we have an original finish where the paint is adhering with no failure problems such as cracking, chalking, or
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Applying Paint To Cars By Scott Grundfor
Applying Paint To Cars Final Cleaning The first step, before we spray the color coats, is to again thoroughly clean the surface. Contaminants can hinder adhesion and create other problems later. Wax and grease remover will again be used, with plenty of clean rags, to
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