I think a bit of a history lesson is in order here. First of all, when this group was formed, there were a number of posts that covered all sorts of different topics - nothing was separated into different headings. As one of the founding members sitting on the steering committee, we looked at how the club would be formed with particular attention to the web site because that was what we had at that time. Later on, I sat on the first board of directors and that is when we decided to separate the areas of discussion into the various headers.
At the time, we were already getting a number of posts concerning modified cars or mods you could do to your car. I asked that we not accept these posts based upon our mission statement but in the end I settled for a separate header which I called Research and Development. It really wasn't what I wanted but it was OK.
This is my 40th year restoring 190SL's. When I started in 1977 people scoffed at these cars and now they're highly prized by collectors and owners. I know how hard it is to restore one of these cars and I'm sorry, but street rodding a 190SL might be one of the dumbest moves you can make. If you get half the value out the other end you'd be lucky. If a person can do that level of fabrication, then they would certainly be capable of restoring it to original condition, so the idea that you are somehow '' saving '' these cars is bogus. However, since it's up to the owner, I guess they can waste their money any way they want.
My closing point is simple. The moment we start praising these efforts is the moment we loose focus. Yes, there
is a company in Germany that uses a 280SL to re-create a modern car. They use only MB parts to do it and the build quality is outstanding. It's not for me but maybe it's for someone. The example of the 190SL
is hideous because is a bastardized car.
I won't go any further here - I don't want to hurt someone.......
