Vehicles Aren’t Built Here, but They Are Bettered
Members of the Southern California automotive industry say that, while cars and trucks aren’t manufactured here, the region abounds with companies that make or do everything that can be done after vehicles come off the factory floor.
The latest proof of that was unveiled in Las Vegas last week--a one-of-kind Mercedes Benz convertible sports car-utility vehicle designed in Irvine and put together in Fountain Valley to facilitate the dreams of former Wall Street hedge-fund king Jim Rogers.
Seems that Rogers, who went around the world on a motorcycle a few years ago and wrote a book about it (“Investment Biker”), wants to greet the new century by doing another round-the-world jaunt. This time, he’ll take a four-wheeled vehicle and report on the state of the economy in various climes.
He started his hunt for a suitable vehicle in Germany. At a major off-road vehicle show in Munich, he was referred to sources in Los Angeles, who told him that the car he wanted would have to be built from scratch. They put him in touch with Gerhard Steinle, former head of Mercedes-Benz Advance Design of North America.
After his eight-year reign at the Irvine-based studio ended in 1997, Steinle moved a few blocks away and opened his own firm, Prisma Design International, to do automotive, textile and other design work.
He persuaded Rogers that the car of his dreams would be an SLK 230 retractable hardtop roadster mated to the chassis of an all-wheel-drive, turbo-Diesel G300 utility vehicle, the Mercedes Gelaendenwagen, that is sold in Europe and Asia.
The SLK and G300 were merged by the magicians at Fountain Valley-based Metalcrafters Inc., which has made its mark hand-crafting all those stunning prototypes and concept cars that Chrysler Corp. keeps turning out--cars like the Dodge Viper, Plymouth Prowler and Chrysler Chronos. Steinle knew the Gaffoglio family, proprietors of Metalcrafters, from his days at the Mercedes studio. The metalworking firm built the prototype Mercedes AAV sport utility in 1995--forerunner of the Mercedes M-Class.
To haul luggage and spare parts for the “GLK,” Steinle and his colleagues at Prisma--former Isuzu design chief Danny Ellis and designer Dan Caruthers--created a trailer that duplicates the SLK’s rear when seen from behind. Road testing on the GLK, which a Rogers representative says is valued at about $500,000, is scheduled for this month and next. Rogers plans to depart Jan. 1--from Iceland, which will be celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of Leif Ericson’s discovery of North America.
