Artifact: Mercedes 300 SL Owners Manual

Recently while reading a cool article on Wired Autopia about driving a 300 SL, I remembered that years ago, as I was sorting through my grandfather's papers, I had come across the owner's manual for the Mercedes 300SL he used to own in the fifties while working as a Life magazine photographer in Paris.
Unfortunately he did not keep the car which he remembered as being hot and "impractical" (face palm). I think he traded it for a Jag and regretted it the rest of his life. Wonder where it ended up?

I thought you'd get a kick out of it so I scanned the whole thing. A lot of talk recently about how you need to connect emotionally to cars and how some enjoy mechanical interface complexities... how about a car that needs all of its 97 grease nipples greased at regular intervals?
Kidding aside, my how the world of cars has changed, this manual has everything from what kind of fluid to put in the radiator ( make sure river water is well filtered) to how to apply your own wheel weights. Of course there are recommendations for a "racing" tire pressure inflation and instructions on how to bleed your brakes.

Some of the more eye opening facts about the 300 SL I learned here: the fuel tank held 34 Gallons/130liters and the block held 4 gallons of oil! What can you find in there?

If you are using an iPad, you can download the .pdf to view in iBooks --> here
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