Gooding & Co's strawberry 190SL famously fetched $200k in August, setting the 190SL community abuz.
Gooding’s $200k 190SL
Back from the dead
Way back in ’97 I found a 190SL in New York’s Ulster County that had been parked in its owner’s backyard for 13 years. Its tires had slowly sunk into the ground allowing its floor pan to rest on bare earth. It had become a playhouse for its owner’s children and as we first winched it onto a trailer, we found it had also become a home to countless mice.
The bottom of the car so completely rusted that the only practical restoration solution was to completely dismantle the car and replace the entire floor/frame assembly. Brian Parker, then owner of Star Quality, had a complete frame assembly in stock and that became the basis of the Strawberry 190SL that recently brought $200,000 at the Gooding and Co. Auction at Pebble Beach 2012.
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Gooding's SL was slowly returning to mother earth before being rescued by 190SL expert Slim Wheatley. It appears to be a 2-tone in 534 fire engine red with 050 white hard top. Quite sad sight indeed.
Beyond ‘ground up’ restored
Imagine a restoration with more than 450 pounds of metal replacement. All other aspects of the restoration process were the same as we all go through and the car re-appeared in public for the first time at the Rhinebeck, NY show in May of ’02. The fully restored 190SL was then shown at the 190SL International Group convention at West Point, NY in July, winning its first national award. Then it was on to the 2002 Hershey October show where it won its first AACA award.
In 2003 the car was sold to a dealer in Rochester, NY and in 2004 it was purchased by its last owner, prior to the auction, who resided in California. The last owner contacted me shortly after his purchase and we kept in touch over his years of ownership as he continued to detail and upgrade the car and exhibit it in the California shows. The car has certainly had its share of acclaim which it could not have received sinking into the ground in upstate New York.
The body assembly in primer after a brutal re-construction.
With suspension and drivetrain in place, the strawberry red paint has been applied and this epic project was drawing to a close.
Text and Photography from Slim Wheatley
Edited by MercedesHeritage.com
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3 Responses to “$200k 190SL: Behind the gloss”
Knowing how prone to rust these cars were it certainly is an amazing feat to bring back the quality that appears in the photos. Slim Wheatley is to be commended on saving one of the nicest cars Mercedes produced..
Although underpowered, we can thank Max Hoffman for his insistance that M-B build these and export them to the US. I miss the looks of my old ’61 190SL but not the performance.
Ahhhh. A resurrection and a wonderful restoration. Having done a ground-up restoration I know how long it takes to bring a classic back to its original condition. No detail too small. A labor of love. This car is stunning in strawberry red.
That is the ENTIRE article? THAT’S ALL?
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