Ever wanted to look like the star in an Italian movie, wending along the coastal roads, wearing dark sunglasses with a girl in the passenger seat with a scarf trailing in the wind? Now you can have the look and the car, all without burning a drop of gasoline.
Up for sale is a 1965 Mercedes-Benz SL convertible outfitted with a full electric drivetrain. The eBay auction ends in a day, or if you're feeling particularly flush, you can plunk down $35,000 for the Buy It Now price.
The conversion took a mechanic specializing in Mercedes products over 600 hours of work, jamming batteries and electronics where the original 2.3-liter inline-six engine previously resided. The license plate now reads, "ZER0 C02". Cute.
Unfortunately, style outweighs performance in this beautiful classic. The car gets a meager 30 miles of travel per charge, and its top speed is 55 mph, partially due to the lead-acid batteries, which aren’t as efficient as lithium-ion cells used in modern EVs. The Benz here won't keep up with a Tesla, but the SL is made for being seen, while cruising silently (and slowly) down the boulevard. A track terror this is not.
If you’re a classic car nut, you've probably already plotzed at the site of the owner's gall, defiling a rare automobile for resale. Relax – the car comes with a matching-numbers engine and drivetrain, so it can be converted back anytime.
__
__
