The Trossi / Ralph Lauren SSK like it once was... (UPDATE II: as it was in 1932..!)

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One of the most spectacular cars ever made is the Mercedes-Benz SSK from the collection of Ralph Lauren. We received this era photo from the Florentine Alfadoctor like promised earlier. Click it for a better view on the car to see how it looked like during the short ownership of the playboy/banker Mr. Levi Semana, who appeared in an 8C Alfa last week. Very little has changed over the decades. See the comparable sideshot showing the car like it is now at MotorTrend.com. There are a few interesting differences. Most eyecatching in this respect are the eliminated wheel discs (Aftermarket bling-bling? Were they lost at some point in time? Or did designer Lauren decide they were not sporty enough?). Second is the diagonal vent door in the bulkhead which is grey or metalised in the vintage photo and colored black in the current lay-out. Three: the two large brackets on the side of the car, one of which is used as a footrest by Mr. Semana. Both brackets seem foldable and both have a leather strap attached. They are not with the current car. Is Ralph keeping the luggage rack in his attick in favour of an uncluttered line? Our theory for the contraptions is that they were meant to take exra luggage. Polo gear? We hope to hear from Mr. Lauren or from his collection conservator. Also we need to mention that the Alfadoctor is prepared to swap the photo for a bunch of RL polo's. Happy to hear a few answers to the numerous questions; [email protected] (photo courtesy AlfaDoctor)
See also an : earlier feature at PWC about the RL collection including this Merc.
UPDATE II The car as it is nowadays seems to be more original than in our late thirties photo!! Read UPDATE II by Carsten Christiansen, but first check this this vintage photo (collection Christiansen): "The photo originates from Carlo Felice Trossi's family, and shows the car in 1932 while the car was in Trossi's ownership! In fact Trossi sold and bought back the car several times between 1931 and 1949 when he passed away!"
UPDATE by Jean l'Homme from Spain: "Maybe that the car pictured with (second?) owner Mr Levi Semana was different before he owned it. Maybe Ralph Lauren has found out what it looked like originally?" Edit. (JB): This may very well be the case. We did not try to imply that the restoration was not correct, like Jean says the photo was taken at a later stage, not when the car was new. It is just interesting to see an old photo and the differences. We contacted the restorer Mr. Paul Russell who loves the photo and promised to come back to it.

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