How does changing the original color affect resale value?

[hkollan]

Great and fun post Joe! If it where up to me I'd forgive you. But then again I am a sinner myself so I that probably would exclude me from having a saying in this.

John's post that effectively  almost managed to close down this quite interesting thread, led me to find his story about his red 68 280 SL and the communication between DB and the original owner during the ordering process. A very interesting story with unique documentation indeed.
I don't know how I missed that one since it's on the home page of this site.
But I am very confused as to in what category  to put John Mancini?  Looking at his red car, he clearly belongs in the "those who couldn't care less about originality"  category(with that Nardi steering wheel), then again looking at his blue car indicates that he might belong on
the other side after all.  ;-)

[john.mancini]

         Ahhhhh yes, I too am a sinner. But not in the "Pagoda sense". I had a long conversation with my dear 68 red 280SL, and explained to her that Mr. Nardi was not going to be part of her life forever. Mr. Nardi was just a little "temporary friend" that I added to spice up her life. About once a week I pull out her original black steering wheel and hold it up in front of her headlights. I can almost sense a slight smile on her grill when I do that. I do, however, repent weekly. I confess to Father Maloney about my lust for wooden steering wheels. It's a problem I have had for years. Counseling has been no help.
Remorsefully yours,
John

[thelews]

        Ahhhhh yes, I too am a sinner. But not in the "Pagoda sense". I had a long conversation with my dear 68 red 280SL, and explained to her that Mr. Nardi was not going to be part of her life forever. Mr. Nardi was just a little "temporary friend" that I added to spice up her life. About once a week I pull out her original black steering wheel and hold it up in front of her headlights. I can almost sense a slight smile on her grill when I do that. I do, however, repent weekly. I confess to Father Maloney about my lust for wooden steering wheels. It's a problem I have had for years. Counseling has been no help.
Remorsefully yours,
John

John, nice story on your car.  I read it for the first time.  Like yours, my car is very original.  While the person I bought it from was the second owner, I have every receipt from 1971 (car is '67).  He too was meticulous and kept the car in unreal condition.

Question:  Did you recover your seats in original tex or leather?  I see you put whitewalls on.

It's interesting that the fellow asked for medium red, which actually is a color MB offered and looks like the 230s in the brochures, but that MB gave him signal red 568.  In the picture with his mother, the car actually does look medium red.

[john.mancini]

Hi John,
I recovered the seats in Tex. The paint is original on the car. I'm sure there has been some fading since new. I love the fact that it's an original paint car. You can never tell colors from photos. They can be very deceiving, depending on the lighting.  I just bought a 1966 230SL. The color is 162 blue/grey. It looked very blue in the photos, but in person it appears very grey. I can't see any blue in it. By the way, your car looks spectacular. Your photos are terrific. Great job John.
John

[thelews]

Hi John,
I recovered the seats in Tex. The paint is original on the car. I'm sure there has been some fading since new. I love the fact that it's an original paint car. You can never tell colors from photos. They can be very deceiving, depending on the lighting.  I just bought a 1966 230SL. The color is 162 blue/grey. It looked very blue in the photos, but in person it appears very grey. I can't see any blue in it. By the way, your car looks spectacular. Your photos are terrific. Great job John.
John

Blue/grey is a great color.  My 190 SL is DB317 grey/blue.  It's great, always looks different in different light.

My car is not original paint, but was repainted in the original Herberts 568 Signal Red in 1975.  He wanted to be absolutely sure to use the EXACT paint that the factory did.  The interior is all original except for the door sill carpet and a refinish of the dash wood because the owner didn't like the way the factory did it and wanted to bring out the beauty of the wood!