If you’re in the market for a dream car and price doesn’t matter, Curt Taylor may have the vehicle for you. It’s a custom-made replica of a 1936 Mercedes stretch limousine, and it’s parked in all its gleaming black and chrome splendor in the showroom at Classic Rides & Rods of Annandale. You, or your chauffeur, can drive it home for $175,000 to $200,000. "It’s quite a unique car," said Taylor, sales manager at the event center and classic car dealership. "It’s 23 feet long. It’s an absolutely gorgeous car." According to Taylor, the owner hired a man to build his dream car but died about a year ago not long after it was finished. So it’s been driven only 46 miles. His wife donated it to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and the college contacted Taylor and asked him to sell it. It’s not the first high-priced replica car Taylor and Classic Rides have dealt with. They’ve sold $140,000 replicas of 1930s-vintage Dusenbergs before, he said. The Mercedes is "one of the more unique cars" he’s handled, Taylor said. "Very similar" but not identical to the car it’s copied from, it’s one of a kind. Aside from its elegant appearance, the car features a convertible top that folds down manually and an all-leather interior. The front seat is separated by a glass partition from the two-seat rear passenger compartment, but a "doggie door" allows a pet to move from front to back. The car features an "air ride suspension," which uses air bags instead of springs and can be adjusted to one of three air pressure settings. It can lower itself to the ground to make it easier for a woman in a gown to get in and out, Taylor said. The air suspension wasn’t factory equipment on the original car. And it has "suicide doors," which open in the opposite direction to doors on contemporary cars. Gangsters made suicide doors popular in the ’30s, Taylor said, because they helped them shoot from cars. The car was appraised at $175,000 before it was even finished, he said. "We are estimating it will go at between $175,000 and $200,000." Who would buy such a car? "They’re people that have over 100 cars in their collection," Taylor said. TV talk show host Jay Leno is a car collector, and Taylor said he intends to send him an e-mail. Movie stars and Las Vegas casinos would also be potential buyers. "With any classic car there’s the right person for the right car," he said. "It only takes that one person that really wants it."
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