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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Who needs a 300SL ?

Sadruddin Aga Khan

I read this at kidston.com, and had to share it. This is about Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, UN High Commissioner for Refugees(1966-78). It goes well with yesterdays' post.

With his Gullwing in '50s at Gstaad
Years ago we were asked by a client to sell an anonymous-looking 300SL Gullwing. Detective work unearthed the factory delivery card and a yellowing photograph of a young man with that same Gullwing outside the Palace Hotel in Gstaad on a sunny, snow covered day in the ‘50s. It had been delivered to him just months earlier at Harvard University. Urbane but perhaps mindful that his role as a spiritual leader dictated a slightly more low-key lifestyle than some of his contemporaries (relatively speaking), Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan was another leading light of the post-war jet set with an appreciation of beauty in its many forms and a penchant for fast cars. Hours after a telephone call to his nearby chateau on Lake Geneva, a chauffeur driven Audi RS2 pulled up, resplendent in black with the discreet green and red pinstripes of the Aga Khan’s racehorses. A distinguished older gentleman emerged, impeccable in tweed and a crisp British accent. My wife volunteered to accompany him on a test drive in his old Gullwing and couldn’t resist commenting: “You must have been very popular in this car with the girls at Harvard” which was met by a smile: “My dear...” he paused, “I didn’t need the car.”


Picture and content credit: kidston.com

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