I am selling my all-original “survivor” 1956 Mercedes Benz 190SL.  For the exception of one repaint in the early 1970’s (back in Spain) and tires, the car is as it came from the factory in 1956.  The car was first sold from a Mercedes Benz dealership in Madrid, Spain in 1956.  The car’s owner in Spain was Casilda Fernandez de Cordoba Rey, the XX Duquesa (Duchess) de Cardona, Spain (see pic of her ownership).  A close friend of the Spanish Royal family found out about the car’s availability after visiting his hometown in Spain.  Needless to say, he jumped at the chance of purchasing the car and he brought it back with him to the United States on July 28, 1980 (I have the original United States Customs Service Carrier’s Certificate and Release Order). While in the U.S. the car was very well taken care of and driven on very rare occasions.  Unfortunately the owner developed health problems in the late 80’s which caused him to have to park the car and leave it unattended for the past 26 years.  The car has 51,721 original kilometers (32,137 miles) and is all original, except for the one repaint which was disclosed to the gentleman when he purchased the car in Spain.  According to the owner, the car ran perfectly with no issues before it was parked.  Last week I attempted to turn the car on to make sure it still runs.  After draining the gas by removing the drain plug and changing the oil, the car fired right up.  The car was put into first and reverse gear, and it moved with no issues.  The car was immediately turned off and nothing further was done and I will not be doing anything else to the car so as not to damage anything.  Everything seems to work except for the brakes, which appears to have lost all of the fluid, due to a possible leak.  Also, the original radio does not turn on and the driver’s door does not open from the outside.  The right front headlamp was disassembled for bulb replacement and needs to be reinstalled.  The car has some surface rust spots, but the only area where the rust might have gone through the metal is on the left rear quarter panel right above the tire (see pic).  There are no other spots where the rust went through.  The car has both its tops, original spare tire and jack, but no tool kit.  To the best of my knowledge, the car has never been in an accident.  I crawled under the car and looked for any evidence of it having been hit and I could not find any.  I also ran a magnet throughout the entire car, initially, I could not figure out what the problem was when the magnet would not stick to the hood, trunk and doors.  I later found out that those parts are made out of aluminum (not sure why), answering my question as to why the magnet would not stick.  The magnet stuck to all the other panels with no problems. This is a 60 year-old car.  As I have stated, it has sat for 26 years.

Price: Auction

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Location: Pasadena, California, United States