Welcome to Our Projects – This is a section of Journal where we can showcase the work we do, the cars and the people behind them. Every car has a story, a history of connections between the people who know, love and enjoy the car… This Signal Red 300SL has a lovely tale.
The car shown here was purchased by Andrew’s father back in 1970. It was his pride and joy, purchased from Mercedes-Benz in Coventry. When Andrew inherited the car, his first trip was to SLSHOP!
“My father was well known locally, he ran a business which I would go on to become a part of. Everyone knew about my father’s SL, it was a part of him! He had originally been to Mercedes-Benz in Coventry to look at a sensible family saloon, but fell in love with the SL the moment he saw it in the showroom. Amazingly Mum said yes, so he bought that instead! We had seats put in the back, I was around six or seven and remember being shuttled around in the back of the SL.
Dad would garage the car all winter, and charge the battery the day before he wanted to use it. It was one of the things in life that my Dad was really interested in – he loved it al his life.
He was very precious about the 300SL. He did once ask me to move the car because he was busy, but by the time my bum had hit the seat he was already outside, banging on the window. I reversed the car exactly as he instructed, with his head through the drivers window the entire time…!
I’ve got one particularly amusing story about the car. I must have been 24 at the time, and was actively working in the family business. My Dad and I were sitting down with our insurance broker for a meeting, and the company vehicles were being discussed. I made a comment something like ‘I can’t wait for next year when I’ll be able to drive the SL’…. Dad had always told me I couldn’t drive the car until I turned 25 ‘because of the insurance’.
The insurance lady smiled and wryly replied ‘you were able to drive the SL when you turned 17’.
Other than mechanics and technicians, this car has almost exclusively only ever been driven by my Father.
As time went on, the condition of the car gradually deteriorated, and towards the end, it really wasn’t the SL that my Dad thought it was…!
When Dad passed away, the car found its way to me. I’d always said to him ‘you can’t ever sell that car until you let me drive it’, and as it turned out, the first journey was straight to SLSHOP for restoration.
This car means the absolute world to me and my family. It’s a part of my Dad, it’s a part of him that was present throughout his life and all through mine. There’s a lot of people that are looking forward to seeing the car completed, I have to send updates to a host of phone numbers as so many people want to be updated on the build!”
Our thanks go to Andrew for sharing his story – we look forward to reuniting Andrew with the car and hope it goes on to create another lifetime’s worth of memories.
Have you got a story with your SL?
Share it with us to be featured on Journal.
Welcome to Our Projects – This is a section of Journal where we can showcase the work we do, the cars and the people behind them. Every car has a story, a history of connections between the people who know, love and enjoy the car… This Signal Red 300SL has a lovely tale.
The car shown here was purchased by Andrew’s father back in 1970. It was his pride and joy, purchased from Mercedes-Benz in Coventry. When Andrew inherited the car, his first trip was to SLSHOP!
“My father was well known locally, he ran a business which I would go on to become a part of. Everyone knew about my father’s SL, it was a part of him! He had originally been to Mercedes-Benz in Coventry to look at a sensible family saloon, but fell in love with the SL the moment he saw it in the showroom. Amazingly Mum said yes, so he bought that instead! We had seats put in the back, I was around six or seven and remember being shuttled around in the back of the SL.
Dad would garage the car all winter, and charge the battery the day before he wanted to use it. It was one of the things in life that my Dad was really interested in – he loved it al his life.
He was very precious about the 300SL. He did once ask me to move the car because he was busy, but by the time my bum had hit the seat he was already outside, banging on the window. I reversed the car exactly as he instructed, with his head through the drivers window the entire time…!
I’ve got one particularly amusing story about the car. I must have been 24 at the time, and was actively working in the family business. My Dad and I were sitting down with our insurance broker for a meeting, and the company vehicles were being discussed. I made a comment something like ‘I can’t wait for next year when I’ll be able to drive the SL’…. Dad had always told me I couldn’t drive the car until I turned 25 ‘because of the insurance’.
The insurance lady smiled and wryly replied ‘you were able to drive the SL when you turned 17’.
Other than mechanics and technicians, this car has almost exclusively only ever been driven by my Father.
As time went on, the condition of the car gradually deteriorated, and towards the end, it really wasn’t the SL that my Dad thought it was…!
When Dad passed away, the car found its way to me. I’d always said to him ‘you can’t ever sell that car until you let me drive it’, and as it turned out, the first journey was straight to SLSHOP for restoration.
This car means the absolute world to me and my family. It’s a part of my Dad, it’s a part of him that was present throughout his life and all through mine. There’s a lot of people that are looking forward to seeing the car completed, I have to send updates to a host of phone numbers as so many people want to be updated on the build!”
Our thanks go to Andrew for sharing his story – we look forward to reuniting Andrew with the car and hope it goes on to create another lifetime’s worth of memories.
Have you got a story with your SL?
Share it with us to be featured on Journal.
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