2 Attachment(s)
DMC’s 1957 Gullwing Mercedes – where is it now?
I recall hearing that DMC had a Mercedes gullwing at some point. Then I came across this late 1981 listing of DMCA company cars in a recent ebay ad from dmcseller
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELOREAN-DOC...oAAOSwuYVWoTXC
Including a 1957 Mercedes Gullwing in storage, serial number A1980406500290 which should really be written 198.040.6500290
http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?at...4&d=1454536891
Does anyone know anything about this car; how/when it was acquired, what it was used for (presumably door investigation), when/how was it sold and where is it now?
After a couple of hours down a google rabbit hole I could only determine that it was actually a 1956 car, either titled as a ’57 or possibly it is just a type on the DMC sheet. But why would DMCA own such a rare exotic. Well, it turns out that the the average cost of a 300sl in 1978 was only $25k which would certainly have made it reasonable for them to buy it for engineering research
Reportedly only 308 coupes were built that year (out of a 1400 total for coupes and roadsters), so you would think tracking this would be easy, but no.
6500214 sold for $1.4 million
6500280 sold for $1.85 million in 2014
6500287 sold for “only” $430k during the slump in 2006
6500299 sold for $1.9M last year in a completely unrestored condition
This last one interests me. Supposedly it was in a storage facility in So. California for 30 years, last registered in 1983. Could the DMC list VIN of 6500290 be a typo for 6500299 ? mmmmm could it?
http://autoweek.com/article/car-life...e-restored-one
of course this article makes no mention of JZD, but what are the odds of two uber-rare (<300 in the world) being in storage in California?
Or is it still there???
Also in storage with the Gullwing inexplicably were examples of these two things
http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?at...5&d=1454536892
"Salvio Jungla" is actually a Fiat 126 Savio Jungla (note the typos) this:
http://www.lanciaflavia.it/public_ol...1222947376.jpg
Lohr FL500 is this:
http://cars-pics-db.com/pics/lohr-fa...r-fl500-03.jpg
now, why would DMC have these?