I wonder if I'm the only one left who actually ordered a DB423 Tobacco Brown W113 new.
Mike's right; manufacturers like Porsche, Jaguar, British Leyland and Mercedes-Benz even offered different shades of brown. In 1971, the only darker shade of passenger-car brown was from Rolls-Royce, and I think a lot of us were attracted to the richness of it, particularly the way it complemented the cognac and bamboo interiors.
The SL's were advertised as "the civilized sports car," and the fact is they were positioned as sporty grand tourers, not "serious", competitive sports cars. I used to park mine next to an Air Force captain's white 113 at Laguna Seca -- and then we went out on the track to rally 911's and TR-6's.
The aesthetic of Mercedes cars in 1971 is important, too. When you see a darker U.S. Pagoda with the color-matched hubcaps on 78-series whitewalls, that's the way they were almost always paired in Sindelfingen. And they look balanced and correct.
So we can critique contemporary tastes, paint our SL's any color we prefer, and put on 70-series blackwalls if we want, but let's be careful not to assume these cars are today anything more or less than when they were designed and built. Because that context is a big part what makes them interesting.
Bill Greffin
Chicago
#22375
