Fake it until you make it.
The age-old question of which car is the most beautiful? While some would say the Jaguar E-Type, others will reply with Lamborghini Miura. The Mercedes 300 SL is another popular answer, and one that myself would give. Although the car shown here isn’t an authentic Gullwing it is a decent copy that we would be happy to own.
This stunning knockoff is much more affordable than the original $1.15million. Some pristine examples are available for as low as $128,000. This Gullwing-inspired coupe lives up to its name, with the stunning doors that face the sky and a faithful copy of the classic 1950s coupe’s body.
Crossley & Webb, South Africa listed the Gullwing Tribute for sale. It started out as a 2001 SLK32 AMG. Then it got an aluminum body made using data from a 3D scan taken of a genuine W198. The retro-flavored body looks great and it has a remarkable diet of 882 lbs (400 kg) more than the donor car.
The Gullwing Tribute is available for viewing in Cape Town. It retains the original supercharged V6 engine of 3.2-liters with 350 horsepower and 332 pounds-feet (450 Newton meters) of torque. According to the advertisement, the five-speed auto transmission shifts smoothly and delivers brisk performance. To restore torsional rigidity, a steel roll cage was installed to replace the roadster body. This made the SLK a faithful 300SL copy.
There were approximately 1,400 Gullwings made. The R170-generation SLK was not as rare, but it is still a very rare sight considering that only 4,333 32 AMGs were manufactured between 2001 and 2004. It’s expensive to make a replica but it’s worth it because of the incredible attention to detail.