It’s not everyday you go to a remote countryside village and stumble upon some of the finest machinery Europe had to offer at the turn of the 1960s. If you’re like me when faced with such fine choices, you have a seriously hard time making a decision.
I have to admit my infatuation with an Aston Martin DB4 would only be skin deep. I superficially understand their performance and pedigree. Realistically I’m more aware of the next generation DB5 and the obvious connection to James Bond.
For such a watershed car, the Jaguar XK-E/E-Type can almost seem, well, common. I’ve seen 6 out on the streets this year alone! That’s more than any version of the C1 Corvette I’ve seen. It doesn’t help matters that the example we’re encountering today is “refrigerator white” for a lack of a more specific paint chart color name on my brain.
I don’t want to say I can be won over by a paint color. However this 300SL was bluer than the Pacific Ocean. There’s no way that any lens could do this car any justice. It’s pretty astonishing someone actually drove what looked like a museum piece to the broken pavement of Pescadero.
So enough of my (hinted) voting, which Roadster would you want to ride off into the sunset with?
Aw come on, driving any of those machines would be a dream come true for most of us. It’s difficult to choose between them. It’s like choosing which supermodel you would take home with you. Of course, some people regularly dates supermodels, or drive the kind of exotics mentioned above, but for most of us…
All of those are well above my pay grade but given the chance I’d opt for the Jaguar. Good parts supply, lovely looks and reasonable mechanical bits. I’d just have to change the colour.
Of course everyone wants an XKE, and the DB4 is certainly nice, but I’d have to go for the 300SL roadster, if for no other reason that it’s so much less common than the XKE. In Los Angeles, some folks down the street bough a beautifully restored black 300SL roadster, and it left a very lasting impression; as in unrequited lust. It would probably fit me better too.
. . . . but you can’t take the German out of the boy. 🙂
Quite true. If an unexpected bundle of money were to fall in my lap, a “Pagoda” 230-250-280SL consistently floats back to the top of the list of what to spend it on, even though other cars make brief appearances.
I just need to stop putting spare money into new building projects; an old SL would probably appreciate faster, but let’s not talk about the maintenance.
At least the SL wouldn’t get moss on its roof, not in your hands anyhow.
I guess the Merc would get the vote just for the pagoda roof alone. Just imagine the all around visibility! I wish this is the kind of styling cues that will make a comeback someday.
Saw a movie with Richard Geere driving a white 190SL on TV a couple days ago. What a looker, I meant the merc not the guy, though the guy’s pretty good looking too. What an elegant pair. I think he crashed it in the end too, what a waste.
I will be the contrarian and pick the Aston for one simple reason – you never see them anywhere. Everyone can ID an old Jag from 100 yards, and everyone will ohh and ahh over an old Benz every time. But the uninitiated will have to get up close and read the nameplate before seeing what JPC is driving. Of course, when it won’t start, I may have to call Paul and ask if I can please borrow his Mercedes. 🙂
I’m with you. I still see E-types as commonplace, and I think the Mercedes is overrated. (Yes, they’re nice cars. No, they’re not a million dollars worth of nice) I’ve always had a weak spot for Astons.
I’d likewise be opting for the Aston, partly for the same reasons but mostly because I think it’s the prettiest of the three (which are admittedly all achingly beautiful). Also reliability woes hold no fear once you’ve owned an italian sports car. 😀
What year was the E-type? The early cars with the flat floor and the original Moss gearbox I think are more valuable, but also less pleasant to live with. If it’s a 4.2-litre with the all-synchro gearbox, it’d be more tempting, but I’d probably still settle on the Mercedes. I like the DB4’s unapologetic Britishness, but I think it’d be more desirable as a fixed-head coupe.
As I’ve said before, I think one of the fundamental problems with E-type ownership, separate from any reliability or maintenance issues, is that it’s a car that is sexier than most of its owners. In that respect, the DB4 or the 300SL have a distinct advantage: They’re certainly pretty and they look like money, but they’re less likely to make passersby think you’re trying too hard.
Quite early given the covered headlights and small grille/air intake
Nice though the Mercedes and the Aston Martin are I’d have to have the E type for looks alone.British racing green or red please.
+1
They’re all beautiful, but I’ll take the 300SL. For decades I’ve been in love with the hard, cammy snarl of a Mercedes inline six. But like Paul, I think I’d really rather have a 230SL.
If money were no object, I’d take the 300SL. But the Pagodas are much more realistically attainable, if not exactly cheap.
Having already owned a 230SL, and still checking them out in Hemmings every month, I’d readily agree.
I’d have to take the Benz for the engineering and parts availability.
I concur with your choice, but I’m not so sure about parts. The 300SL was made in very small numbers (unlike the later SLs), and I suspect the parts are wickedly expensive. Jag parts are like Chevy parts in comparison.
I think MB Classic will sell you pretty well any part – for a price!
Put me down for the XKE. I’d love to drive one, not sure I’ve got what it takes to own one and I’m quite sure I don’t have what it takes to restore one.
Actually, my Goldilocks roadster is the big Healey.
Paul is lucky to be German. Being of Dutch extraction what am I supposed to be genetically disposed toward? DAF? Spyker?
I’ll see your Big Healey and thumb my nose with a little Italian Exclusivity in the form of an Alfa Romeo 2600….
Not to split hairs, but I believe Paul would say he is of Austrian heritage.
That’s an issue I used to take more seriously than I do now. Ethnically speaking, Austrians are Germans. It was rather arbitrary political divisions over a thousand years ago that created what became Austria. After WW1, it was an open question whether Austria really made sense to exist outside of Germany. And as we know, during WW2, many Austrians were more than happy enough to be reunited with Germany. FWIW, I do have some Genuine German blood, as well as some Jewish blood. So I’m ok with that, at least today. On some other days, I might be a bit more prickly about it 🙂
Oops, right I knew that. Just take my foot out of my mouth here….
Can we mix and match? Please!! Id take the aston with the 300’s beautiful paint.
I like the E-type, but it does seem common, probably because of its long life span from 1961-1974, even though there are different series cars, the shape was familiar for a while, the Aston and the Mercedes have that “well to do gentleman of leisure” vibe that I would love to have one of these cars for.
Which one has the most interior room, and space in the footwell for my big feet to work the pedals? Doesn’t matter how good it looks if I can’t drive it.
Hm, I thought for sure more people would choose the DB4 like I would. It was James Bond’s Ride before it was cool.
No it wasn’t.
http://www.astonmartin.com/007
It’s the DB5 you’re thinking of, and a coupe not a convertible at that. If anything I’d say that makes the DB4 more achingly cool though.
I think that Ian Fleming wrote about Bond getting a DB3 to replace his Bentley in the novel Goldfinger, so the car in the picture would be closer to the car from the novel.