Dusty Mercedes Stored for Six Decades Might Be Worth $1.5 Million: Reports

Dusty Mercedes Stored for Six Decades Might Be Worth $1.5 Million: Reports
The Mercedes-Benz logo is seen before the company's annual news conference in Stuttgart, Germany on Feb. 4, 2016. (REUTERS/Michaela Rehle)
Jack Phillips
3/8/2019
Updated:
3/8/2019

Mercedes-Benz bought back one of its cold cars, and it might be worth millions of dollars.

The firm reacquired a 1954 300 SL gullwing coupe with 35,408 miles on its odometer. The car was amassing mold and dust in a Jacksonville, Florida, dealership since the 1960s, Fox News reported.

It was then moved to a storage facility about 10 years ago.

“We believe the car has been sitting since 1956 and with 35,308 miles on the odometer,” Constantin von Kageneck, who is the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center’s marketing and communication specialist, told the Ponte Vedra Recorder newspaper several weeks ago. “It appears the original owner enjoyed this 300 SL quite a bit between 1954 to 1956.”

The report estimated that the Mercedes could be worth between $1 million to $1.4 million. There were only about 1,400 made, and this specific car was the 43rd one.

The person who sold the vehicle wanted to remain anonymous.

“There comes a point in your life when (attempting) a car like that to getting a proper restore, you have to wait in line a year or two. Then, when they get to it, it’s another two years. When you get to be in your late 70s or early 80s—that’s four years to get a car done. You just don’t know if you’re going to be alive that long,” Bill Warner, who assisted in finding the car, told the paper.

Warner said the 300 SL Gullwing Coupe is a must-have among collectors.

“There are specific cars that are must haves for collectors,” Warner told the news outlet. “A 427 Cobra is one. A pre-1971 Ferrari is another and a Duesenberg is another. That’s just the way it is. This car is one of those.”

Mercedes-Benz has been attempting to buy the vehicle for several years, and it recently made an offer deemed acceptable to the owner, Fox reported. It’s not clear what it was.

The car, according to the Fox report, was originally medium blue metallic, but it was primed and sanded during an attempt to restore it.

Kageneck said that Gullwing Coupe No. 43 will be shown at the Amelia Island Concours and will be set alongside No. 44, the Recorder reported.

“For most classic car aficionados, there is an emotional connection to a specific car,” Kageneck added.

“It was the car their parents took them on vacation when they were young, the first car they owned in high school or the car they dreamed about when they were introduced to cars in the first place. …Classic cars tell a story of the past, they inspire people’s nostalgic imagination and offer us a glimpse of what life in the past looked like.”

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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