Not so long ago I published two articles about the “vintage” line that Scalextric started in the 90s. I presented the first two vintage cars they made: a Seat 600 and a Mercedes 250 SL Sport. Today I bring the “real” vintage version of the Mercedes: the original one from 1967.
As said in #107, there are two versions of the Mercedes 250 SL, this one (hardtop, ref. C-32) and the “sport” one (cabrio, ref. C-33). They were originally released in 1967 and 1968 respectively, being the second and third models designed and manufactured entirely in Spain (first one was the Seat 600, and before all these three, the Mini Cooper was manufactured in Barcelona, but designed in England). Both Mercedes share the same cast, but the windshield/ roof part. It’s a taste thing which one do you prefer.
The Mercedes were discontinued in 1972. In those five years were released in various colors: black, green, white, brown, and this burgundy red. Black is somehow “rarer” since the C-33 was only manufactured in the other 4 colours.
The hardtop was also manufactured in several colours: black, white, burgundy red and grey. They were applied in a way that the colour of this part was never the same colour of the car. There are very elegant combinations, like this one, but there are also some other combinations that don’t look that good, for example a light brown car with a burgundy red hardtop.
The Grey hardtop is very rare to see. The same car with it is up to 200 Euros more expensive than the same car with other hardtop colour. To my understanding this is a lot of money, since the grey hardtop is very light and it looks pretty similar to the white hardtop.
An interesting fact from this vehicle is that it was the first to have a “mobile” guide blade. The Seat 600 and all the English imported models to-date had a fixed guide. You can better observe this in the following picture. Note also the RX Motor.
Two more facts are the driver, which always had a "jet"-type helmet and the decoration of the car, which consisted of three race numbers, applied over the bonnet and doors. This model is completely original, even the tyres are the original ones (they were never changed). The box is also completely original. As you can observe, the box is tagged three times: the sticker from exin on one side, a second tag from "El Corte Inglés" (also on the same side), plus a third tag on the front of the box which has an uncertain origin. All three tags mark 420 pesetas, that's exactly 2,52 Euros. Compared to the prices that these cars can reach nowadays, it would have been a good investment to buy and keep a few of them over all these years.
FACTS AND FIGURES
- Name: MERCEDES 250 SL (Ref. C-32 or 4032)
- Scale: 1:32
- Year: 1967
- Company: Scalextric Exin (Spain)
- Size: approx. 14 cm
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