Another Gullwing crashed...

[036]

One of Sixt son´s on Mille Miglia.

 

[Klink]

Sixt to Zero? Needed a Sixt sense? Looks like they weren't following Walter's advice there in your signature. The old Benz did a nice job of removing the left front strut from the BMW. I really hope no one was injured! There are a number of people there on the Continent that make this like it never happened, and Herr Sixt can well afford their charges.

 

[Jimbo]

What a crime !

 

[need2speed]

It will live again...

 

[M104-AMG]

It will live again...

Exactly!

neil

 

[036]

Car was rented from Daimler AG......

 

[Jimbo]

Awesome tale to tell his grandkids ...." I once destroyed a Gullwing on the Mille ! "

 

[Maui]

From the MB Star website:

A Mercedes-Benz 300SL gullwing was wrecked in a crash at the 2014 Mille Miglia in Italy over the weekend. The black 300SL, built in 1956, was being driven at the time by one of the heirs of German rental car giant Sixt.

According to Italian website Tuscia Web, which has several photos of the gruesome wreckage, a driver of a BMW 1-Series lost control on a broken stretch of road and ran head-on into the 300SL. The impact caused the Mercedes to spin but even though the damage is quite severe there were no major injuries reported.

The original 300SL, both in its coupe and roadster bodystyles, remains one of the most sought-after models by collectors today, with some examples fetching more than a million dollars, though they typically sell for between $500k and $700,000k. First launched in 1954, the car was the fastest production vehicle of its day, with its 3.0-liter straight-six enabling it to reach a top speed of 161 mph.

 

[gerryvz]

There's no doubt that the Gullwing will be fixed/restored and will live to drive again. They're just too valuable these days not to preserve, and there are enough spare parts and expertise (MB Classic Center, Kienle, and other shops) in Europe to do the work to a very high caliber. If the car was indeed owned by MB, then the Classic Center will restore it to better than new condition, no doubt. I bet it will take at least 2-3 years to complete the resto, though.

That Gullwing took A LOT of damage as compared to the BMW. MBs of that era didn't have crumple zones (those came first with the Pontons in the later 1950s) so I am very surprised that there were no injuries in this accident. The cockpit of a Gullwing is not exactly spacious, and that huge steering wheel looms right on top of you when driving.

[youtube]QzGu3WoBuo0[/youtube]

 

[Maui]

My understanding is that most of the parts are still being produced by Mercedes. They are extremely expensive but available. Rudy and Company in BC hosted the MB Club last summer and gave an example of how these parts could be purchased from MB and their expense. He showed the group a windshield wiper assembly and said the cost was just north of $7000.

 

[carreraboy911]

looks like a perfectly straight stretch of the road, how did that BMW lost control is beyond me

 

[036]

Wrong info, sorry- Gullwing belongs to Erich Sixt.
BMW driver was injured more.