SLS-Less

The LA Auto Show is on the horizon and already the rumors and leaks have begun. But one thing that is for certain is this year's Auto Show will be a sort of sending off for a car I feel still has good years left in it.

Mercedes has come out and said that they will unveil the SLS AMG GT Final Edition as a way to give the gull-winged beauty a proper goodbye. But why say goodbye at all? Why not keep building it? I know we've had three years to admire and appreciate the SLS but for me that feels too short. After all, the original gull-winged 300SL had a much longer life of 9 years, not including its racing career before that. Plus the much harder to look at SLR, which the SLS replaced, made us look away for 7 eye-watering years. That’s painfully double the life of the SLS. But maybe this was Mercedes plan all along in an effort to make the SLS more memorable, rare, and more of a collector’s item.

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I’m just disappointed I didn’t buy one. I’m just disappointed I can’t afford one. I think their simply wonderful and I feel Mercedes couldn't have honored the 300SL any better. And now I’m more than a little sad to see it go. First Porsche with the GT and now you Mercedes…I should learn by now that Germans will just break your heart.

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But without much concern for my feelings, bloggers and readers are already weighing in on the SLC as a possible replacement. From what I can gather, most people prefer the shorter wheelbase and hatchback of the SLC. And it appears Mercedes isn't letting fans down either; the SLC will be just as fat and planted as the SLS. It will have a roadster model, come with a big V8, and be a hardcore performance car. Mercedes also say that the SLC will be a tough rival for the Porsche 911. While part of me should be excited at the new German-fast-car-rivalry, part of me can't help but already miss the SLS because for me the SLS didn't have to compete with anyone else. The SLS wasn't always about number crunching. It was about class, legacy, and tradition. It was at home on a race track, at home parked in front of an English manor, and at home in a studio being photographed for a child’s car poster. And that’s big shoes, and a big hole in my heart, for the mini SLC to fill. If Mercedes can pull it off then I’ll be even more excited because I won’t lie, the Porsche 918 is already healing my GT wounds. I’ll just have to remember the SLC doors swing out, not up.

Happy Motoring.

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cover photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/aneil4lom/6771459137/sizes/l/in/photostream/