This Week on Hagerty Marketplace: A Trio of True Survivors
Welcome to This Week on Hagerty Marketplace, a recurring recap of the previous week’s most noteworthy cars and significant sales from the Hagerty Marketplace online auctions.
Survivor, the TV show, airs Wednesdays on CBS. But it’s also presented daily on Hagerty Marketplace, where we showcase survivors like the three very different vehicles featured for this week—a mint GMC S-15 Jimmy, a vintage Chevrolet Corvette, and an elegant Mercedes-Benz sports car. All sold last week on Hagerty Marketplace, so if you missed this trio, there are many more choice survivors available this week.
1960 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL
Sold for $107,000
Six years after the debut of the Mercedes-Benz SL (it stood for Super Light) lineup, the race-inspired 300 SL and the 190 SL touring car were making their marks in the sports- and sporty-car market, battling such vehicles as the Porsche 356 and the ever-improving Chevrolet Corvette. The 300 and 190 continued through 1963, when a new SL-Class was introduced.
This cherry 190 SL represents the best of the breed: an independent front suspension and swing axles in the rear, with unibody construction. Power for the 300 SL was a straight-six, while this 190 has a numbers-matching inline 1.9-liter four-cylinder, with two Weber carburetors and an electronic ignition. Transmission is a four-speed manual.
This car is a two-passenger sports model, but has the rare side-facing single rear seat for a (hopefully diminutive) third passenger. Finished in Fire Engine red with a bamboo interior, it represents a truly elegant time in Mercedes-Benz history. It was sold by an owner who had enjoyed the car for 24 years, and had lovingly restored it, yet upgraded the seats and the Bluetooth-equipped Becker stereo. There are no known imperfections.
1957 Chevrolet Corvette
Sold for $80,250
It’s true that 1957 was a very good year for the Corvette, which took first and second in the GT class at the 12 Hours of Sebring race, and subsequent sales reflected the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mantra. Much of the success was due to the new 283-cubic-inch V-8. Multiple versions of that engine were available on the ’57 Corvette, with this car getting the potent 270-horsepower choice, featuring twin four-barrel carburetors and paired to a manual three-speed Syncro-Mesh transmission. (A four-speed was available in 1957, but it came later in the model year.)
On this particular car, the bold 1950s styling meshes well with the small-block Chevrolet V-8, leading an era that would last for decades. This is a well-cared-for, very original vehicle that could star in a car show on Saturday, go for a cruise on Sunday.
1984 GMC S-15 Jimmy Woody 4×4
Sold for $12,299.65
About the same time in the 1980s, both Ford and General Motors realized there was a market for an SUV that was smaller than Ford’s Bronco and GM’s K5 Blazer models. Thus were born the Bronco II and the Chevrolet S10 Blazer, and its corporate twin, the GMC S-15 Jimmy.
This GMC S-15 Jimmy, ordered new from the factory and maintained by the original owner, is a very rare survivor, clad in true woody styling, complete with English ash trim. Looking as though it just rolled out of the showroom, this 4×4 Jimmy is powered by a 2.8-liter V-6 with a four-speed automatic transmission. Loaded with almost every option available, and with just 45,350 miles on the odometer, this S-15 is very nearly one of a kind.
