The Gasser style is usual adapted to cars such as Chevy’s and Corvettes to name a few, so to be different, Kevin Clarke took a 1968 Mercedes 250s and turned it into one.
Gassers look so menacing, raw and damn right fun when you watch them screaming up the drag strip. This style is adapted to various different cars from Chevy’s, Corvettes, Mustangs and many more, but we had never seen a Mercedes 250S as a Gasser before.
So how does one decide to build a Mercedes 250S into a Gasser? I will let Kevin share his incredible and touching story…
Well, it started off as any other bad idea. A few buddies and I were spit balling ideas for frictional builds. By the end of the night we had a check list. It had to be cheap, had papers, completed on our spare time with spare funds, and we had the name.
I was at the point with my 73 Camaro where I was looking at high dollar parts so I figured I’d start looking for cheap luxury cars. I was looking at Bentley’s, Rolls Royce’s but I stumbled on a 1968 Mercedes Benz 250S that was in a small town in northern BC that fit the bill.
After a little negotiation I informed my best friend, Coleby, who was apart of the original conversation to hook up his trailer for a road trip. The car was actually nine hours away and a half hour out of town down a dirt road.
No cell service and after the sketchiest transaction surrounded by strange people and the quickest load up we were headed back home. After staring at this shell for a week I decided to motivate myself and asked Coleby if he wanted to help me paint the livery to officially start this project.
High Class was officially created. Not even a week later I received a gut wrenching phone call. A driver ran a stop sign and hit Coleby who was on his motorcycle was hit and he didn’t make it. After his funeral I figured I owed it to him to finish the last project he touched.
After five months and scavenging every usable part off of the Camaro, High Class was completed. Since then High Class has blown up an engine drag racing, has driven to a car show in another country, wows crowds, and is continuing to evolve.
It has been more than a car… it has been therapy, a distraction when things get rough, a conversation piece, and I want to thank everyone who has helped and whom I’ve met along the way.
