shot and posted at the Cohort by William Rubano
Cohort Wordless Outtake: Derelicts
– Posted on July 31, 2018
shot and posted at the Cohort by William Rubano
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2 top luxo cars of the same era! nice!! it looks like time caught up to everything in the photo.
Come to America and visit me! I made it big! I have a big house, a Cadillac and a Mercedes SL!
The car on the right is probably still worth several thousand dollars, depending on the powertrain and exact condition. The car on the left is scrap metal.
That pretty much tells you all you need to know about luxury cars of that era.
Why would you say the Caddy is scrap?? it’s probably more desireble than the Benz. and in top condition worth a lot more.
well, its not the best picture but I would say that it pretty much looks like the Cadillac has no more window in the back and the side windows look either lowered or non existent as well.
Go figure what that means for the interior. The sheet metal on the outside speaks (screams) for itself.
Not to mention the floors in a car without a rear window. My guess is that there are no floor pans in the aftermarket for a Caddy just like for many full size cars such as Lincoln and Imperial.
That Caddy’s more likely to see restoration than is that Benz. Odds are good the Caddy’d end up with oversized wheels and a loud metallic paint color, but it would be someone’s pride and joy.
That Benz? One in good shape would be worth a couple bucks, but unless this one can run and move it’s probably a goner.
Hey now, who says you can’t donk a Benz?
The one on the right will be too rusty to be anything but parts.
Take it from someone who has owned vintage Mercedes-Benz. They are NOT inexpensive to restore or maintain. It will be quite a while, if ever, before the R107 roadsters command the prices of the previous generation W113s.
Now to the image: Nothing says mid-century (20th that is) America like a split-level ranch and a Cadillac in the garage.
While W113 prices will never touch those of the Pagodas (which can fetch for six figures), the bigger engined R107s are starting to come into their own.
A quick search in Hemmings shows decent 450SL/560SL examples are commanding (if not getting) upwards of 20-30K. The smaller engined 380SL seems like they are still trading in the 10-12K range. That is why I said it depends on the engine.
W113 is the pagoda. These 107 panzerwagens will never reach their predecessors’ heights in value, regardless of engine. Which makes them a better everyday driving proposition, whether from the value POV or actual driving experience. Might not be able to match the ‘being-looked-at’ experience though.
Hmmm, makes me wonder just what kind of non-vehicular treasure is in the garage . . .
I shouldn’t throw stones as right now I am there. While my daughter is between apartments at an out of state internship I have about $300 worth of hand-me-down furniture in the garage while our minivan (worth several thousand dollars) sits outside. Grumble. And the funny part is that my Miata which is worth much less than my van is still indoors.
Ah, yes: treasures in the garage. Many years ago, we acquired a small pipe organ from a church that was closing. For months, some parts sat in the living room, covered by old bedspreads. Other major parts sat in the garage, awaiting the time we could put the instrument back together. That meant a car sat outside. Pack rats got to the car. One day, the car wouldn’t start. Upon opening the hood, we found pieces of cholla cactus on top of the engine. After throwing something like $1,300 at the car, it ran again. That, and an event coming up in a couple of months, pushed us to get the organ put back together and out of the garage. That was something like 16 years ago; the car is long gone, but the organ is still here, and gets lots of use.
That Benz has been my dream car since my childhood in the mid ’70’s. I’ll most likely never own one unless it’s gifted to me, as the maintenance and repairs wouldn’t fit my budget. I’ve seen quite a few priced reasonably enough to be very tempting, but like an 80’s XJ-6, I’ll continue drooling over them from a distance unless I simultaneously come into a bucket of money and am given only a short time to live, in which case, screw it, I’m in.
I wonder why everybody is so freaking afraid of the supposedly high repair and maintenance cost of the R107. From a technical point of view they are basically simple cars…there is nothing exotic about them. And they were mass produced. Its not like you are looking for a Citroen SM.
I had it´s succesor, the R129 500 SL with all those electro-hydraulic gadgets…now that is something to worry about.
But the R107? Go find a rust free one and live your life.
The US versions have complicated climate control, electrical and central locking systems that make them quite complicated. I would never compare one in maintenance terms to an XJ6 though. That’s a whole different animal.
I agree on the climate control…that was a million miles aways from being a masterpiece ! 😉
You have to consider parts costs here in the USA as well. MB parts are not cheap over here, and off brand parts usually do not fit well. Add to that fact that most mechanics who WILL work on a Mercedes are specialist and charge higher rates, it means overall costs for it are higher.
Conversely, I would imagine getting Cadillac parts in Germany would be rather expensive as well.
Well, prices for parts might in fact be higher in the US than compared to Germany due to shipping et al.
Yet what truly makes your head spin is the price for labor. If you got a mechanically exotic car, the mechanics will have to spend hours to search for faults before they can repair it. Thats what makes maintenance really a pain in the butt. Then there´s rust…convertibles have complex structures and welding jobs are challenging (expensive).
Cadillacs in Germany? As a matter of fact there is a huge US Car scene over here and thanks to the internet parts are easily available. And believe it or not..the overall perception here is that keeping a US car up and running is relatively affordable since the – older ones – are mechanically simple.
I am not talking about very special interior / exterior parts of course. I do not want to know the price for a new rag top for a R107 😉
Houses exactly like this are what fueled my interest curiosity about cars, it reminds me of exactly what I’d see wandering the neighborhoods and cul de sacs of suburban Chicago with my friends on our bikes in the mid 90s. Where I was 6-7 years old and naive enough to not quite grasp the notion of something being derelict or old and the concept of styling changes before my time, I’d just see the fins of this Caddy and be mesmerized by the difference in scale of the whole thing, as well as the detail differences from the more frequently seen Cadillacs of the time. Or ponder why I keep seeing so many of these exact Mercedes 2 seaters, but never see car commercials for them?
I was actually going to say that this shot could be in the near-Chicago suburban neighborhood that my uncle lives in, even though it’s most likely in New York.
Seeing this shot makes me think of the (in)famous scene in the movie Casino where Sharon Stone rams her Mercedes SL into Robert DeNiro’s Cadillac Eldorado. Something about the solid Benz and trashed Caddy…
May the smashing begin.
with those bulldozer like front bumpers nothing could happen to the SL ! 😉
Blurry, but the damage is done.
Hell hath no fury….
Even the house looks a bit ratty. Everything looks like faded glory of something that was once pretty nice. It was kinda cool to look at the picture of everything as it sits and do a mental rewind to the late ’70’s and picture everything looking pristine.
Agreed on the house – first thing that I noticed was the windows in the room above the garage appear to be updated. At one point someone was trying to improve things. Let’s hope it continues for the home and cars.
Did you notice that the front door was boarded up? Probably a victim of the 2008 recession. Nothing in that picture is going anywhere.