I don’t know about you, but I think certain colors look best on certain cars. To me, shades of silver, white, and gray fit Mercedes-Benz vehicles well. Yet our Pick of the Day comes in such an interesting shade of red that has made me rethink my stance. You can find this restored 1957 Mercedes-Benz 190SL listed on ClassicCars.com by a dealer in St. Louis. It comes with a matching removable hardtop and tool kit.
At the 1954 International Motor Sports Show in New York, Mercedes introduced the 300SL, aka the “Gullwing,” and a prototype of the 190SL. According to the automaker, “In contrast to the famous wing-door coupé, the roadster 190SL was not designed to be a true sports car, but an elegant and sporty two-seated GT car” available as a roadster with a soft top or a coupe with a removable hardtop — with or without a fabric roof. Instead of the 300SL’s 3.0-liter straight-six with direct fuel injection, the 190SL received a new 105-horsepower 1.9-liter I4 equipped with a pair of Solex downdraft carburetors and a four-speed manual gearbox.
Between 1955 and 1963, Mercedes produced 25,881 190SLs, nearly 40 percent of which (10,368) were sold in the U.S. According to the selling dealer, this particular 190 was “completed on June 9, 1956 [and] delivered through Mercedes-Benz of Los Angeles and equipped with several rare factory options, as documented by its original data card. These include a transverse rear seat, color-matched hardtop, Becker FM shortwave radio, and black cloth soft top with matching boot.”
Those are cool features, but it’s a little hard to notice them because you have to look past the gorgeous color of the body. It’s called Erdbeerrot Metallic, which translates to Strawberry Red. I love the 190SL in white so much that I bought a diecast model of it in that color, but this shade of red — which seems to have a little maroon and pink in it — is my new favorite.
Believe it or not, the paint (as well as many other parts) is more than 30 years-old. Mercedes-Benz collector Tom Reiger had it restored by Mercedes specialist Bob Platz in the early 1990s. After that, this SL went on to win a variety of awards, including Best of Show at the International 190 SL Group meet and First, Senior, and Grand National prizes from the Antique Automobile Club of America.
If this 1957 Mercedes-Benz 190SL looks like a winner to you, buy it for $169,500 — then celebrate your own personal victory as its new owner.
Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com
