1930 Mercedes SS/SSK manual to be auctioned

[Guest Skip Jordan]

I couldn't find the Pre-War Mercedes thread, so I thought I'd just mention to aficionados that Bonham's will be auctioning an original, English language version of the SS/SSK instruction manual at Goodwood on FRiday, June 29. This is right up there with hen's teeth. Even the Mercedes Classic Centers don't have one.

Bonhams 1793 : A Mercedes-Benz Sports Cars instruction book, for SS and SSK models, English text, June 1931,

[alsancle]

Back in 2003 I had that manual in my hands at the Kruse swap in Auburn. Asking price was 175 bucks. I sat there and ruminated over it for 20 minutes before I passed. ...sigh...

[MarrsCars]

Back in 2003 I had that manual in my hands at the Kruse swap in Auburn. Asking price was 175 bucks. I sat there and ruminated over it for 20 minutes before I passed. ...sigh...

Don't you just hate those kinds of memories? I have my own "missed opportunity" at Kruse from the early 90's and it still hurts to think about. I now use the mantra that all antique dealers and collectors live by when encountering something rare, "the time to buy it is when you see it" because you can always sell it on later if it just isn't right for you. Of course then we all have stories of the item we owned but sold only to regret later, so sometimes you just can't win!

[Curti]

Back in 2003 I had that manual in my hands at the Kruse swap in Auburn. Asking price was 175 bucks. I sat there and ruminated over it for 20 minutes before I passed. ...sigh...

When we get old and look back over our life. The dissapointments are not what we did do, but what what we did not.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

"You would not have paid too much, you may have bought too soon"

OK, heard enough about it yet, A.J.??

Actually we have all been there. We have a family tradition related to this sort of thing - it would not be Hershey if dad didn't buy a few things, then complain the whole way home about the item he passed on and now regrets...

[Guest Skip Jordan]

I have a German version of this manual which I bought on eBay about 5 years ago, under $100 - it's in such perfect condition, I'm sure it must be a reprint, but I can't find any experts, even at Mercedes,who are aware of such a reprint. It looks like it just came off the press - no crimps, no yellowing of paper (which exactly duplicates other Mercedes manuals), with crisp type and illustrations that make me think they at least used the original plates. There is no printing date or such information on it, and it even has a loose slip of paper noting errata. The seller didn't know its background.

[alsancle]

Skip,

Usually the binding is the give away. Also I know that the 500k/540k manuals all had versions printed on them as there were multiple printings - each a little different. There was a nice reprint of the 540k manual that had the fold out. I think it must have been done in the 50s by the factory.

[Guest Skip Jordan]

Here's mine - soft cover, 6"x8" with fold-out diagrams.

Edited June 27, 2012 by Skip Jordan (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Well done reprint from the 1950s. Compare the binding on yours with the one in your first post. If you are disappointed I would be happy to give you your money back .

[Guest Skip Jordan]

Well done reprint from the 1950s. Compare the binding on yours with the one in your first post. If you are disappointed I would be happy to give you your money back .

I'll need it for about a year. How about $175.00 then? (That gives you more than 20 minutes to ruminate)

[trimacar]

I agree we all have those kind of memories. At Hershey once, walking the field on a main road, went right, then doubled back to do left hand side. As I walked up to a literature vendor, a fellow picked up a Pierce Arrow upholstery book, one put out by the factory, nice embossed Pierce in the leather cover, with page upon page of samples. I stood there, transfixed. He asked the vendor how much, answer, $150. I'd have paid it on the spot. Fellow holds book, and starts talking "well, I don't really need it, but it's nice" and so forth, then got in a conversation with vendor about other things, yet he still held the book.

I stood there for 20 minutes, just waiting, and hoping that he'd put the thing down and walk away. I couldn't say anything, as that would, of course, make the thing more desirable to the would-be-buyer-who-was-holding-the-darn-thing.....so I just pretended to be interested in their conversation.

He finally.....told the vendor he'd take it.......man, what a let down. If I'd just gone left instead of right.....but those are the decisions that change your life without you, usually, knowing it!