CC Cohort William Rubano caught the very essence of why cars like this exist: so that others would crane their neck to check it out. I’m checking it out too, to try to identify just exactly which of so many classic Mercedes-inspired kits or retro-mobiles this is. But my retro-memory banks seem to still be on vacation. There were so many; way too many…one of you will know.
The subject car is a “replica” of a 500K or 540K – not an SSK.
Doh! As I said, my brain is still on vacation.
It’s a Mercedes 500k replica, this one is a Marlene V6… Very elegant and classy
Even though this may not be an actual Excalibur it is exciting to see this post as I’m visiting my folks in Milwaukee this weekend. Now I just may have to make some time to go see the status of the old Excalibur plant in West Allis while I am there.
Nice ! .
I had no idea there were such things being made .
-Nate
Really, Nate?
Never heard of Zimmer, Tiffany or Excalibur?
These Neo-Classics were very popular and the rage in the 80’s.
A much cooler alternative to purchase as a new car, as opposed to the mundane cars the regular manufacturers were offering back in the 80’s. 🙂
* The Zimmer Golden Spirit… One of my personal favorites
There’s tasteless and then there’s so tasteless that it’s cool again. These neo-classical pomp chariots are definitely the latter. My favorite is probably the Seville Opera Grandeur which I’m sure you’ve seen as an utterly appaling two-door conversion on the original wheelbase on the internet before, but the far less known stretched four-door carries its vibe much, much better.
With the year of that Seville and the over the top look… It seems like a car that would be driven by a drug dealer on Miami Vice. 🙂
I don’t know…………even drug dealers have *some* taste. ?
Yea, they usually drove a Maserati Quattroporte, Lamborghini Countach or an AMG Mercedes W126.
That Seville is “80’s excess” just like the lifestyle and characters on episodes of Miami Vice. 😛
Don’t forget the Clenet. Ridiculously expensive when new.
All of these ’70s-’80s neo-classic builders had one thing in common. It was guaranteed that they all had an ad running in Playboy every month.
Oh yes, I forgot Clenet.
Didn’t they have a model called the Conspiracy? Clenet always seemed more elite, their ads had a certain elegance.
Yes ;
Those I remember , this one Paulie posted was *much* smaller ~ that’s why it caught my interest .
Those big long things are still out there , I see them for sale or in Junk Yards occasionally , worthless IMO .
Shorter wheel base vehicles are always more fun to drive , even if they’re crappy little ‘ penalty boxes’ .
-Nate
Ahh yes, a time when enterprising car nuts would make their own modern-driving classic car instead of stuffing a modern 350/350 chassis into a real one. How quaint.
I see the Subaru driver is as interested as we are.
If that Crosstrek were any color other than Tangerine Orange I’d be doing a doubletake. For the first year at least it seemed like they were ALL that color!
Isn’t Morgan Motors still making a true “bugs in the teeth” British roadster?
Yes, but Morgan isn’t a replicar or kit car company, they design and produce their own cars from original molds and blueprints. Big difference from these Neo-Classics.
The Morgan Plus 4 and 8, look pretty much the way they did in the 1950’s.
Morgan doesn’t do replicars, the three wheeler not withstanding. The current Plus 4 and Plus 8 are basically constant evolution updates of their first four wheeled car, the 4/4. I mean it still uses the sliding pillar suspension they introduced, and an ash wood frame. I think the beginning of that model was in the late 30s.
They are a replica the way a 2002 Old Beetle from Mexico is a replica. They just kept building them that way. Darn good car, a moggie.
I have tried to find a kit for these but I think it may have been a custom built one off or, more likely, is no longer available.
Ive seen adverts for these kits you just harvest the powertrain out of the appropriate Benz sedan bolt it all in and voila you have a replica prewar Mercedes roadster they even look ok unlike the glitzy rolling turds from Zimmer and others
Still ain’t a REAL 500K, with the junkyard Mercedes sedan engine.
Instant turd, right there. Try bringing that fake to a Concours d’Elegance.
A real one you wouldn’t want to drive much if at all. A replica could be a daily driver, or more likely, a weekend driver.
Zimmer were turds. I think they still are (Aren’t they still building those Mustang based things?).
But the Excaliber was a nice car. Flashy, gaudy, gauche, and tasteless, but not a bad automobile.
IIRC, one of these crazy companies was actually basing their cars on MG shells – and the Midget at that, not the B.
The kits I remember were replicas copied from an actual 500k roadster made in South America and exported to wherever you are all metal not fibreglass and quite well made.
What about the Bradley GT of the 1970s? It was a kit car on a old VW Beetle chassis.
Check this out:
ISDERA Autobahnkurier 116i.
2 x Mercedes 5000 ccm/300 hp (so that means 10000 ccm and 600 hp, Vmax 242 km/h).
A bit hidious? Maybe. But impressing! An its inventor, former Porsche-engineer and founder of ISDERA, Eberhard Schulz, is as funny as pure mad in a fascinating way.