When it comes to cruising down the open road, wind in your hair, responsibility far behind, lovely lady at your side, etc., you certainly aren't lacking for a ride—it's only the most lusted-after automotive motif of all time, after all. But when you finally jump in your vintage wheels and hit the highway, you might find yourself missing some of those civilized trappings you were running away from. Can your collectable classic handle the cold, or heat, or the rain? What are you supposed to listen to, AM radio? Wait, where do you plug in your iPhone?
And that's where the current-day Mercedes SL comes in. It's a fast, two-seat convertible grand tourer, which is what you want, but with all the comforts of your own home—and then some. The newly announced 2013 model has, among other features, "Magic Sky Control," which electronically adjusts the tint of the glass roof, and an "air scarf," which blows warm air around your neck to keep you toasty, even with the top down when it's chilly out. Sounds great. Sounds like you're ready to trade in your house and just live in the damn thing. Just one thing, though: SL is supposed to stand for "Sport Lightweight," and as luxurious and technologically advanced as these cars have been, they've never really been all that svelte.
Chalk it up to Mercedes's long-standing tradition of building quality cars to the point of excess, but SLs have almost always been sturdy, heavy cars. The second-generation SL weighed around 3,000 pounds, or about as much as a first-generation Ford Mustang, and was decidedly not packing the pony's V8 under the hood. This also meant that it wasn't that fast, and rather than do away with some metalwork, Mercedes decided that the Tim Allen-esque answer was more power!, introducing larger V8s and, eventually, a twin-turbo V12 developing a supercar-caliber 612 horsepower.
But times change, and Mercedes is said to be moving away from the big guns in favor of a souped-up range of V8s, in accordance with the MPG-minded downsizing occurring across the industry. That comes with a new emphasis on lightness, too, as the new version will weigh in at "only" 3,900 lbs. or so, or 300 less than the outgoing model. So while it's no anorexic auto, it's a step in the right direction—and it doesn't come from a simple ascetic diet, either, but shiny technical gee-wizardry. The new SL uses a brand-new body that's 90-percent aluminum, and while aluminum is more than likely a stepping stone to inexpensive versions of the carbon fiber spaceframes that are revolutionizing supercars, the near future still promises a slew of lighter, nimbler, and more efficient vehicles, harkening back to the past without sacrificing the future.
Legendary Lotus founder Colin Chapman's mantra, when designing the company's F1 world champions and classic road cars, was always to "simplify, and add lightness." But what if we could just skip that first part? We know that the demand for technological creature comforts, environmental regulations, and safety standards have made our cars heavier, their engines smaller, and their exteriors uglier, so it's heartening to know that advances in science could be the way out of the technological bloat they began. And if it turns out you can have your cake and eat it too, then great: You'll probably want the optional dash-mounted KitchenAid to make it in, for good measure.