Editorial

Have you ever suddenly come across a car and said to yourself ‘Golly, that would be really good, I’d never thought of one of those before!’ You then spend the next few hours at a PC checking out the prices and availability on the ‘net, mentally noting which colours to go for and what spec to find. Phone calls to friends - ‘What? You must be mad, they cost a fortune to run and how would you park it in London? Does it come with its own mechanic! Ha, ha!’ You know the sort of thing. After a couple of days sober reality sets in and perhaps it was a bit extravagant and well, they did not really sell a lot at the time, did they? I had that almost out of body experience this week with a 1997 Mercedes-Benz CL500, the coupé version of the last ‘monster’ S-Class. Dark metallic black/blue, 64,000 miles on the clock, fully loaded - and all for around £19,000 from a dealer in the UK. And that’s a more expensive one, looking in Germany for left hand drive versions throws them up at £12,000ish.

They are from the era when M-B made superbly hand-crafted automobiles for a discerning clientele wanting safety and autobahn-crushing performance that only the Stuttgart manufacturer can deliver. Big steering wheel, big seats, all the options – marvellous. I think a re-build of the memory seats would probably bankrupt me - not to mention filling the tank on a regular basis for long-range Classic Driver duties. But a UK list price for the current model of £70,000+ shows you are getting a very top of the range Mercedes for almost MINI Cooper S money.

The same principle is true of older classics as well of course. That’s why we introduced a new home page this year featuring the ’50 most recently added cars’. We know a lot of you use this feature to check on new additions to the database, why not use it as a source of inspiration for that next purchase as well?

Ford Galaxy for the school run? No, I think a £12,000 LHD 1992 Mercedes 500E will do nicely thank you – there’s one on Classic Driver right now.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

THIS WEEK IN CLASSIC DRIVER

Team Maranello Concessionaires
Estoril - Championship still within sight

After three hours of on-track action under the warm Portuguese sunshine, TMC’s Jamie Davies and Darren Turner in their ‘Scarlet and Cambridge Blue’ Ferrari 360 N/GT race car (number 88) came home in second position. After qualifying well yesterday in second (car 88) and fourth (car 89) places in class, the pressure was building on the team to achieve a finish...

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International Classic Motor Show Competition - The Winners

Two weeks ago Classic Driver and the organisers of the 2003 International Classic Motor Show at the NEC offered readers a chance to win a pair of tickets to next month's show. The result was an overwhelming response and we are pleased to announce that the answer was of course...

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Dodge Tomahawk - reproductions will be sold

The Dodge Tomahawk concept bike made a lot of noise at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2003. A second Tomahawk is about to be heard from...

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PREMIUM OFFERS

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

full history, 1 owners, Rolls Royce service history from new


colour Larch Green over Ivory
interior colour Magnolia
drive RHD
type Saloon
year 1974
mileage 43.951 km / 27.310 m
country United Kingdom

price 21.950 GBP


Vendor:
Avro Motor Cars

Phone: +44 (0) 1932 352220

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500

Less than 2,000 miles from new. Fitted with 18" alloys, Command, Sat Nav, ESP and all usual refinements. Perfect - as new.

colour Topaz Blue
interior colour Alpaca hide
drive RHD
type Cabrio / Roadster
year 2002
mileage 3.219 km / 2.000 m
country United Kingdom

price 67.950 GBP


Dealership:

Runnymede Motor Company

Phone +44 (0) 1753 644599

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Barons Auction, Sandown Park Exhibition Centre, Esher, UK
21st October 2003

London to Brighton Run, UK
2nd November 2003

Tour d’Espana Auto, Spain
5 – 9th November 2003

The International Classic Motor Show, NEC, UK
8 – 9th November 2003

Bonhams Auction, London Olympia, UK
1st December 2003

Christies Auction, The Jack Barclay Showroom, UK
2nd December 2003

Bonhams Europe Auction, Gstaad, Switzerland
19th December 2003

see further event details

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