Hollywood Producer: ’67 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Cabriolet
When you bring provenance into the discussion, one usually knows the first owner of the magnificent vehicle in question. The car carries that as a badge of honor throughout its entire existence. That’s why we have Steve McQueen’s Lusso or sunglasses selling at crazy prices. We don’t have the specifics for this stunning Cabriolet other than it was purchased by a Hollywood Producer. Not Steve McQueen’s but it does help paint the picture of the car’s first years of life. We can imagine it parked in front of Musso & Frank at dinner or Nat & Al’s for breakfast. 
After 3 years, the Producer traded it in on a 6.3 Sedan. Read More
Concept cars are created to judge public response and the possible success if it is placed in production. Well, back in 1953 VW executives felt they needed a halo vehicle to add to the line-up so they commissioned a styling concept created by Ghia’s Luigi Segre. It was a success. 
They contracted Karmann to build the car in Osnabruck using old style, time-consuming techniques like butt-welding body panels, hand-shaped and smoothed with English pewter – in other words, more money. The rest of the car is Type 1. The marketing people at Doyle, Dane, Bernbach created a classic campaign for the new car aiming at the excesses of true sports cars – Maybe you don’t want to drive a wild-horse, a man-eating tiger or a killer fish…
Did you know that 80% of milk delivery before WW II was delivered to the home by truck? And by the 1970s, that practice almost totally disappeared most likely due to the invention of the convenience store and women joining the workforce. During the heyday of home delivery, a Michigan truck manufacturer, DIVCO, dominated this segment. Unfortunately most of the curvy DIVCOs have been scrapped or litter the back roads of America. How did this one survive, you ask? Well it almost didn’t. It was saved by 2 brothers whose dad drove one on his milk route throughout their childhood. The brothers spent over 3,000 hours combining the one from the field with the drivetrain of another. So it took 2 DIVCOs to realize this beautiful restoration. No detail was overlooked as they tried earnestly to be faithful to the memories of their dad. By the way, both boys were taught how to drive as soon as they could see over the steering wheel…standing up! 
Ever dream about going on an expedition? You finally have the time or better yet made a commitment to take time to see the world. It is the stuff dreams are made of. Well, the good people who are selling this Expedition-worthy vehicle actually walked the walk. They spent close to a million bucks to build the ultimate in road-worthy exploration vehicles. Not the biggest or most luxurious – just the bulldoggiest. If you know what a Unimog is, then you are half way to understanding this build. It is a division of purpose-built vehicles by Mercedes-Benz.
They are bullet-proof and have a very loyal following here in the US. We can’t go into the details that make this one great. It is overwhelming. Every detail was considered and it performed reliably for the sellers for many years and we’ll bet they have lots of memories. Understand that it needs a little TLC right now. The sellers state the need for new hoses, clutch re-surfacing soon and one of the seat-heaters doesn’t work. But at a $700,000 discount from the actual build cost, you shouldn’t quibble. 
Confessing upfront to not knowing much about the craft of hot rod building. The eBay listing says rat rod but our understanding is that is a more modern term. We read the listing and when we got to the part about describing the paint, we knew we had to post it here on Mint. It isn’t often the seller admits that it was painted with a brush. Now that is hot rodding cool. We like the color choice too. So it is a Frankenstein in the tradition of home built customs. It has a Chevy engine mated to a Ford transmission and lots of other flotsam and jetsam thrown in. We have no idea what an original hot rod is worth but if you have one of everything else, why not have one of these? 
We had one of our best days ever when we posted the Volvo PV544. The auction has a 
Elegant almost. 
