Gene Coyle waited a lifetime to purchase the car of his dreams, something cool, sleek and unique. A classic automobile that would catch the eye, cause people to step off the curb as they turn to look.
The Bloomington, Indiana man found it in a replica of a 1934 Mercedes-Benz Heritage Cabriolet Roadster that does all of the above. It’s 17-feet-6-inches of undulating graceful and flowing lines molded from fiberglass. There’s a 285-horsepower engine from a 1971 Chevrolet Camaro under the very cool hood, which stretches about nine feet beyond the windshield.
Turning this car around a sharp corner would be a challenge.
When Coyle started looking for a car online last year, he wasn’t sure just what he wanted until he saw a red 1934 Mercedes roadster replica for sale in Vermont. The seller wanted $34,000, a mid-range price for a car of its kind. He almost booked a flight east to get a close-up look.
“Then I saw this one in Texas,” he said as I crawled around on the floor inside his garage taking pictures. “It was $28,000. So I flew out there 15 months ago to see it.”
He took the car for a test drive. The steering was pretty loose, he recalled, and he had concerns about patched-together wiring under the hood. The air conditioning didn’t work, but who needs it when you can fold down the canvas top and enjoy the breeze? 
A side note: Coyle is a retired CIA agent. I’m thinking he should have asked more questions, done some investigating before writing that check. But he was overcome with the beauty of the car, and it made him happy after some health struggles that challenged his life.
The replica Mercedes got purchased and hauled to Indiana. When Coyle realized it needed some attention from a mechanic, he embarked on a journey that found the car at three different shops around town before it finally came back to Coyle’s garage, ready for the road.
I could fill a photo album with the pictures I took that afternoon, lots of close-up ones showing unique embellishments on the car — a taillight, the chrome pin locks on the hood, a hinge on a suicide door, the spokes on the wheel covers, the articulated silver pipes extending from the side of the engine that in 1934 would have emitted thick plumes of exhaust. 
I filled half of a reporter’s notebook writing down the story of the car as Coyle told it to me. I’ll mention a few highlights.
Back in 1934, Coyle said, two of the first authentic cars his is based on were purchased by American film stars Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. That may have increased his interest in the replica he bought. The car would have cost about $10,000 then. They sell for millions now.
Coyle’s two-seater would take up two regular-sized parking spots in Bloomington. Coyle said that when he called the city parking office to ask if he could take up two spaces with his car and pay both meters, they said no, that it violated the parking statute. “Parking is an issue,” he said.
Coyle didn’t have much luck finding a mechanic who could make all the repairs the car needed. He said he’s invested about $9,000 so far; his wife shook her head and said nope, it’s more than that. 
Speaking of Jan Coyle, she’s not a big fan of her husband’s dream car. She drove it around the neighborhood once, praying she didn’t encounter another vehicle or hit anything before she got back home. “It’s so long,” she said.
My favorite story involves the police. One morning, when the car was in residence at the second mechanic shop, Coyle got a call from a Bloomington police officer asking if he owned a 1934 Mercedes-Benz.
Residents of a house had gone out that morning to find their car blocked in the driveway by an unusual and exotic car parked behind it. The cop said the people needed to leave, and he was going to have the car towed. Coyle called AAA and had a flatbed wrecker retrieve the car.
He called the mechanic later that day to inquire how the car had ended up abandoned in a driveway miles from where it was supposed to be. “He said he was test driving it and the engine died, so he coasted into a driveway and left it there.” 
Jan Coyle sent flowers to the residents to apologize for the inconvenience. That’s when her husband hired a third mechanic, who eventually set the car right.
After more than a year, Coyle said he’s about done with the vehicle, and may sell it in the future. I encouraged him to enter it in a parade. It’s big enough to be a float on its own. And, people need to see this car before it moves on.
Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.

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