If you’d told me a few months ago that I would lose three hours to digging through the archives of a blog about bags and wallets I’d have… Well, I’d have completely believed you because that’s exactly the kind of thing I nerd out over.
What I wasn’t expecting, was to find that the crew over at Carryology also featured an interesting dive into vintage motoring luggage with a particular focus on mid-century Mercedes luggage.
We’ve touched briefly on vintage sports car luggage before, but these guys actually know what they’re talking about when it comes to luggage construction and utility.
Even though these suitcases and trunks reek of impracticality today, I think they’re particularly remarkable examples of sports car ephemera even though they hint at the direction that the sports car industry would take.
At a time when the sporting car was a tool for driving, stripped of all unnecessary frivolity, the practical problem of transporting stuff was a problem. The solution was luggage custom crafted to fit the unusual contours of storage space in the little machines. Naturally the luggage was well made from fine materials—luxurious even. Unfortunately what the industry seemed to take away from this and other luxe add-ons is that they should merge the sports car with the luxury car.
In my opinion it’s a regrettable, but probably inevitable, move away from a purer sporting machine. It may even be one more reason why there’s such a wide difference between a “sports car” and a “race car” today.
Read more at Carryology’s post, which offers additional fascinating tidbits on the 300SL’s clever golf bag holder, and introduced me to Taris Charysyn, who make high quality reproductions of luggage for a dozen or more models of vintage sports car.
