Auction Action: 1,000 mile Ostermeier Gullwing offered in Texas

Low Mileage Ostermeier Re-creation to sell in Texas
Worldwide Auctioneers offers Black 5-speed

Photography from Worldwide Auctioneers and MercedesHeritage.com

As part of their May 1st Houston Classic Auction, Worldwide Auctioneers is offering an extremely low mileage example of the obscure Ostermeier Gullwing re-creations. Perhaps the most respected re-creation of the original 1954 Gullwing, Ostermeiers rarely come up for sale and values are somewhat difficult to ascertain.

Early 'Ostermeier" Gullwing certainly looks the part. 177 hp mid '70s 2.8 liter six lies under the hood. This is the 34th of about 250 Ostermeiers constructed.

With only about 250 constructed (contrary to Worldwide’s assertion of 50 constructed) by aeronautical engineer Anton Ostermeier, these unique cars are quite rare and (comparatively) inexpensive to own. This 1989 car – the 34th example constructed – offered in Houston is quite desirable being fitted with a 5-spd gearbox, finished in black and showing only 1,067 miles on the clock.

Wide wheels/tires and slightly bulbous tail the only tips to a replica. Mercedes-Benz was not pleased with Ostermeier's project.

What is it worth? The auction estimate notes a selling range of $160k-$180k. We sold our silver/red automatic #1083 in December 2009 for $140k, a $25k loss from our April 2008 purchase price. A sale this month off MercedesHeritage.com of a 1991 manual gearbox Ostermeier for about $160k confirms that there is a market for these beautifully constructed cars.

This 1991 Ostermeier just sold off MercedesHeritage.com for about $160k. Later cars such as this had E-class engines.

Worldwide’s car is fitted with the less desirable – but more photogenic – M110 twin cam engine dating from the mid ’70s. It is also a very early car lacking subsequent revisions learned during the production process. Our car and the recent website sale both were fitted with 12 valve E-class engines from the late ’90s.

MercedesHeritage's 1995 Ostermeier #1083 sold for $140k in December 2009 and represented a massive loss from April 2008 purchase price. Automatic transmission may have held price down.

We’ll report on this sale next month. With only 1k miles, the right color and a manual gearbox, this car could bring $150k+. This looks to be quite a value compared to the $525k generated by the high caliber ‘street condition’ correct 1955 Gullwing we sold in December. We’ll see just how it fares on May 2.

The real deal. MercedesHeritage sold this correct rudge wheel 1955 Gullwing in Dec 2009 for $525k. Ostermeiers are not a bad deal at 26% of an original car.

Roy Spencer, editor MercedesHeritage.com

Suggested Reading:
Mercedes-Benz 300SL, Denis Adler ISBN 0-87938-882-X

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