The 1950s Mercedes 300 SL is legend in classic car circles. Evolved from a race car, built around an advanced spaceframe chassis, equipped with fuel injection and, of course, fitted with those incredible gullwing doors that inspired legions of copycats, it must have seemed like something from a sci-fi comic to a post-war world still chugging about in flathead Fords and Austin A30s.

Unsurprisingly, surviving examples of the 1400 coupes built (there were 1858 roadsters, too) are worth big bucks. Rare aluminum-bodied cars are worth in excess of $5 million, and even the regular cars, which had a steel body and aluminium bolt-on panels, will set you back well over $1 million. Which makes this car, at least at first glance, look like a bargain at less than $130,000 (£92,300).

Clearly there’s a catch, and while it might not be readily apparent in the profile picture at the top of this article, it becomes blatantly obvious when you see the car from any other angle. What you’re looking at is a one-off tribute to the original SL built up from a 2001 SLK32 AMG and offered for sale by Crossley & Webb in Cape Town, South Africa for R 1.8 million ($128,435).

According to the advert, this pseudo-SL took five years to build and features a hand-made aluminum body developed using data from a 3D scan of an original car. But looking at the front and rear views it becomes obvious that a fair bit of tweaking was necessary to make the SL shape fit the taller, squarer SLK donor package.

Related: Mercedes 300SL Gullwing “Barn Find” Waits To Be Painted For Over 50 Years

The ad also says the car retains all of the modern elements of the SLK32, including its 349 hp 3.2-liter supercharged V6, automatic gearbox and air conditioning. The seller claims the finished item is a massive 882 lb (400kg) lighter than the 2001 car, which should make it pretty rapid given a stock SLK32 was good for 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) in around 5 seconds.

Unfortunately, as anyone who’s driven an early SLK on a twisty road will tell you, they’re not much fun to drive. In fact, ironically, the standard SLK32’s abysmally vague recirculating ball steering does a great job of replicating the poor feel of a 1950s car. If you’re expecting 911-style driving thrills, we doubt you’ll find them here. But this looks like a well executed conversion that must have cost a fortune to build, and whoever buys it certainly won’t be short of a conversation starter at the gas station.

You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch
You Can Save $1M Buying This Mercedes Gullwing, But There’s An SLK Catch