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.
I think Facebook Marketplace pulled your Jimmy photo
Although I’m not really a Corvette person, that ’57 sure looks like a gem. Our youngest daughter went through a series of S-10 Blazers and S-15 Jimmy’s and loved them all. Oldest daughter went with Bronco IIs and was not as lucky.
’57 Corvette, hands down. I’ve never tired of their styling, and they’re simple & sporty.
In a way, it’s almost a blend of the S-15 and the 190SL.
The Jimmy is by far the best value. We had an 84S10 Blazer, essentially the same vehicle. It gave us 22 years of service until the smog inspectors couldn’t pass it.
For the collector car, I have no interest in foreign cars so there is only one choice.
I owned a C1 and have no desire to have another, so the Mercedes for me.
I lusted after a 190 for years, when prices were still within an ordinary enthusiast’s budget. But mortgage payments and tuition savings for the kids came first. By the time both were over and done, prices had started to spike and I once again had the ‘Generation Jones’ experience of being just a couple of years late to the Boomers’ party… so the first two cars are not merely unrelatable to me, they are as irrelevant to my life as a Bugatti or Duesenberg, and even somewhat annoying as a reminder of the demographic pincer.
As for the C1 — meh, it’s not really a sports car, and as for that Blazer-ette: double meh (cute as it is by comparison with today’s ungainly behemoths).
My solution, as a post-Boomer or very late Boomer (depending on how you count it) now on a retirement budget, is to focus on early 2000s ‘future classics’ at the bottom of their depreciation curve but with all the modern safety technology such as side-curtain airbags. I liked my 2006 MB 230 V6 manual coupé (sold only in Canada and Europe for that model year, I believe), but I love my 2006 Mini Cooper S manual, with its supercharger whine and go-kart handling! Wish I had bought one years ago…
The Mercedes for sure. Years ago I rebuilt the engine in a 1962 190 SL and drove it from New York to Florida to deliver it to the customer. It was a great drive. I had an S10 in 1985 and I can’t understand why someone would pay $13,000 to relive the pain of owning one of those vehicles. To each his own I guess.
The Mercedes and Corvette looks great, not surprised they sold well. The Jimmy Woody is just a funny thing to look at. I’s rather have one without the plastic fake wood panels.
My stepfather had an S-10 Blazer like that Jimmy. I recall stepping on the gas to climb a hill while fully loaded; it made a lot of fan noise but did not accelerate. Not really impressive. He only kept it three years so I don’t know how long it would have lasted… although these rusted away pretty quickly in the road-salt northeast.
Can’t see this one as a collectible, and any modern mall-crawler (excuse me, ‘crossover’) would do a better job on the day-to-day.
Corvette, for sure. The 1956 and 1957 are the best-looking of the C1’s, with their single headlights.
190 SL and the 57 Corvette are very beautifully designed and styled cars from that era. They will always be in demand in my view.
I remember reading the story of the S-15 Woody and how long the owner waited for it to be built and delivered and how he’s maintained it over the years – kinda’ sad he only got $11,495 (plus buyers fees). Figured it would be worth more… the other two have been restored to original, this S-15 IS original! Only new once…