A Car For All Seasons
Greg Lokes had wanted a Mercedes-Benz SL ever since he’d seen them as a boy, cruising through his home town of Glen Innes, Auckland — presumably, Greg thought, doctors and lawyers on their way to their practices in Remuera and Newmarket. He was captivated by the previous Merc SL, the 1963–71 ‘Pagoda’, which he first saw on a trip over the harbour bridge, but when the more aggressive, sleek, new R107 model appeared Greg was smitten.
“I just loved the fluted panels under the doors, and the indicators.”
The fluting on the indicators was apparently supposed to help shed grime. Whether or not it worked, it gave the new Mercs a point of difference.
Greg was especially fond of the coupé version. It was longer — actually a four-seater — and it featured an elegant fan of vertical venetian blinds, echoing the fluted sills, in the rear quarter window. Greg was checking out SLCs on the computer when his wife, Barb, looking over his shoulder, said he could buy one if he got one like
