Robert and Rosemarie Stack at their home in this 1961 picture: Photograph: ABC Television

By David Undercoffler


In 1960, as the story goes, actor Robert Stack had fallen in love. Not with a co-star from The Untouchables, but with a bright-green 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster.
He would pine for it as he passed it on Sunset Boulevard on his way to work every day. It got so bad his wife Rosemarie finally told him to just buy the car and be done with it. But someone beat him to it.
Unbeknownst to him, Dezi Arnaz, Stack’s producer, had bought the car as a gift to celebrate Stack’s 1960 Emmy for best actor. Arnaz handed the keys to Stack shortly after his win and Stack would own the car for the rest of his life.
Such was the story told at Los Angeles’ Petersen Automotive Museum on its popular tour of a basement vault housing myriad vehicles rich in historical significance. The Mercedes passed into the museum’s hands after Stack’s death — he remains the only owner of the vehicle, which has 87,000 original miles.
This Mercedes is one of many vehicles the Petersen Museum is now selling through various auctions around the US. The institution has already raised $8.5mn through the sale of about a dozen collector cars. It has said it plans to sell more than 100 cars and use the money to finance a remodelling of the museum’s building, updating exhibits and improving the Petersen’s collection.
This has raised concern among museum experts, who say selling items from a collection to finance projects beyond adding to that collection is a violation of museum ethics. California Attorney General Kamala D Harris has launched an inquiry into the process the Petersen used to determine which of its vehicles it would sell.
Some of the vehicles are rare or have storied backgrounds or Hollywood owners. The museum has already sold a Duesenberg owned by Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the African-American dancer and actor who often starred with Shirley Temple in pre-World War II movies.
This 300SL will hit the auction block as part of Auctions America’s inaugural Burbank, California, auction. The event will be shown live on NBC Sports.
The car will be offered without reserve, and is estimated to sell for between $600,000 and $800,000. Such a price would be consistent with pricing on similar 300SL Roadsters, according to a pricing guide published by Hagerty Insurance. The company says that Roadsters with the hardtop can command $50,000 more than those without.
An afternoon outing behind the wheel of this particular 300SL proved it to be an easy drive. The six-cylinder engine pulls strong and smooth, and idles cleanly. It moves the lightweight roadster with gusto.
Meanwhile, the four-speed shifter is light and happy to find the correct gear.
The steering isn’t power-operated, so the arms get a workout during tight maneuvering, but otherwise is plenty precise. The steering wheel itself is large by modern standards, and turning a smaller concentric circle within the wheel activates the blinkers.
Though the car was built in 1957, it’s sometimes been listed as a 1960 model, Weaver said. This was because many cars from that era were referred to by the year they were registered rather than their specific model year.
During the 1970s, Stack had the Mercedes painted the maroon colour it remains today and had the interior redone as well. Other than some aesthetic improvements to the engine, glass pack mufflers, and a Kenwood stereo, the car is entirely original, down to nearly all of the hoses in the engine, according to Alexander Weaver of Auctions America.
The 300SL has a 3.0-litre, inline six-cylinder engine estimated to make between 235 and 250hp. A notable component of this engine is its fuel injection, a first on a production car and a feature that wouldn’t be commonplace on cars until years later. Power flows from this engine to the rear wheels via a smooth-shifting four-speed manual transmission.
Though not as iconic as its gullwing-doored coupe version, the roadster actually proved to be the more popular model of the 300SL, with roughly 1,858 built during a production run that ended in 1963. — Los Angeles Times/MCT

auto
Q & A

Shortcuts don’t pay
when repairing a tyre


I just returned from my nearby petrol and repair station after having a leaking tyre repaired. The fellow made a surprisingly quick repair, and it seems to work fine. My son told me they plugged the hole in the tyre, and he thought this wasn’t a good thing. How else should it be fixed? I want to be sure the tyre remains safe and doesn’t lose air. — Susan Turner
Good question, Susan. Tyre repair is serious business, and a large percentage of tyre repairs made aren’t up to industry standards. As a general rule, a tyre may be repaired if it has legally adequate tread remaining; if there’s no structural damage from the puncturing object or from the tyre being operated while under-inflated; and if the puncture is located between the outer two tread grooves and is less than a quarter-inch in diameter. Repairs to a tyre’s shoulder or sidewall are off-limits, as this area is subjected to constant flexing, which may cause the repair to fail.
Proper tyre repair consists of three important steps: The tyre should be removed from the wheel for inspection of the casing, the puncture is filled, and the tyre’s inner liner patched. Outside-in repairs, such as a non-vulcanising string plug, should not be considered a permanent fix, as an internal inspection was not performed, and this repair method has a mediocre success rate. Aerosol inflator and sealer products are a good companion to your break-down/emergency kit, but should only be utilised as a limp-home method. When using an inflator/sealer, be sure it’s nonflammable — a rusty older can may not be — and advise the person subsequently repairing the tyre that such a product was used. Finally, never have a tube installed within a tubeless tyre as a means of repair.
The right way to repair a tyre is to demount it from the rim, inspect the casing for damage, and perform an appropriate repair from the inside. Pinhole punctures, which visually close up once the nail is removed, can be patched, and larger circular punctures should be reamed, plugged and patched.
Tears or slices should not be repaired as they can grow in length.
Reaming the puncture cleans the opening, makes room for the plug, and lessens the chance of it being cut by a steel belt’s strands. A rubber plug, coated with vulcanising cement, is then forced through the puncture, filling it, and after adequate cure time is cut off flush with the inner liner.
Finally, the liner is cleaned, buffed, and patched. Mushroom-shaped combination plug-patches are an alternative to the above method, lessening the chance of procedural errors and saving time.
There is debate within the tyre industry on the repair of high-performance tyres. Some tyre manufacturers do not recommend repairing them, while others allow doing so, but void the speed rating. Others allow repairs, as long as they are performed within accepted guidelines.
I’d consider having the repair redone following the above methods. I’ve used plugs with good success while on the road, but always do a correct repair later when it’s more convenient. Additional tyre repair, maintenance and safety information can be found at the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association website: http://www.rma.org.  — By Brad Bergholdt/MCT