Celebrity cars carry a certain cachet, with the exception of course of the Chevrolet Celebrity. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mercedes is said to have had none other than Tom Cruise's ass in its driver's seat, and do you think that will make its price worth celebrating?
There wasn't much celebrating going on over yesterday's stealthy, but perhaps too much so, 4G63-powered 1990 Summit. Perhaps the fact that these cars never made much of a dent in the collective consciousness helped to drive its meh reaction, but whatever the reason, it dropped in a 72% Crack pipe loss.
Today's 1993 Mercedes Benz 300CE is not only a better known commodity, but it's literally been seen by millions of people the world round. That's because this drop-top Benz is said to have been one of two used in the film version of the John Grisham novel, The Firm.
That 1993 flick was directed by Sydney Pollack, and starred noted Scientology advocate and serial weddder Tom Cruise, as well as Gene Hackman and diabetic walrus Wilford Brimley. The movie was a fairly faithful take on the book, but one place where the two diverged was in the protagonist's car. On the page, Mitch McDeere (Cruise) received a black BMW 318i from his new firm as a signing bonus. In the film that was changed to this champagne 300CE, supposedly at the behest of the director.
Say what you will about Tom Cruise's personal life, when it comes to acting he's always been a solid performer, and if you happened to catch the Top Gear where he took the fastest Star in a Reasonably Priced Car lap - effectively taking a huge Stars and Stripes flavored dump on Clarkson's nationalism - you know he's a pretty good driver as well.
Well, The Firm didn't give many opportunities for behind the wheel heroics, its plot demanding more of the skullduggery and corporate intrigue types of adventures. That means that neither of the hero cars - as such things are called in the biz - ended up much worse for wear from the filming. That is, aside from some dog scuffing on this one, according to the ad apparently due to some method acting. This Benz has but 81K on the clock and the only significant flaw seems to be the missing doors on the visor vanity mirrors, which is hysterical when one considers that the car was once driven by 'movie stars.'
Other issues include some wear on the driver's seat, and on the outside a little wear at the folds of the top and some crazing in the clear coat. How much of this was caused by Cruise's use? Well, that's open to conjecture as the seller intimates the car was given to Cruise after the martini shot, an assertion that is derived from a letter from Mercedes. Whatever the case, it apparently did 16,000 miles before it went from MB to its first (presumably non-celebrity) owner.
This seller is apparently the second owner, and in the three-plus years he has owned it the car has enjoyed a number of maintenance and cosmetic updates to keep it ready for its close up. The question today is whether or not this car's celebrity provenance is big enough box office to warrant its $27,500 asking price. What do you think, is that a fair price for this movie star car? Or, is that too much even if it came with Tom Cruise in the trunk?
You decide!
eBay, or go here if the ad ends up on the cutting room floor.
H/T to the German Cars For Sale Blog for the hookup!
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For $27,500, Will This Soft-Top Benz Make Your Firm?