‘I keep thinking about the Strangler,’ YouTuber Gets Distracted on Test Drive by Creepy Interior of a 1955 Mercedes Gullwing
Nicole Johnson is a retired monster truck driver best known for her Las Vegas-based jaunts in Scooby Doo!, a Monster Jam fan favorite. These days, Nicole hosts her own YouTube show, Nicole Johnson’s Detour. In it, Nicole explores, drives, and deep-dives into all manner of cars. She’s in her third season.
At the end of last week, the channel released her experience with a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing. While initially super stoked to see the gullwing, Nicole is thrown off by a little “fun fact” the owner shared.
Allegedly, a serial killer did all the upholstery work. “The Hillside Strangler did all the leather work on this car,” Robert Webster explains. “He was an upholstery guy in Glendale, California.”
Webster is right about the serial killer’s profession. In the seventies, Angelo Buono indeed owned an auto upholstery shop in Glendale, California. His home was located on the same property.
He and his adoptive cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, murdered 10 women in LA between October 1977 and February 1978. I’ll spare you the horrific details here, but they’re widely available with a quick Google. Buono would die in prison in 2002.
Bianchi is still alive and imprisoned in Washington State Penitentiary. In November 2023, Bianchi changed his legal name to Anthony D’Amato. Some speculate he did this after the Peacock series “The Hillside Strangler: Devil in Disguise” garnered new attention toward the murderer.
Nicole tried to move on from the odd history of the 300SL’s “killer” upholstery, but once the car was running, she couldn’t deny how distracting the creepy tidbit really was. Soon after, Nicole is sitting in the gullwing and starts the engine. Running cold, the motor sounds low and congested.
“I keep thinking about the Strangler,” Nicole remarks. “Good,” says Robert. Uh…okay, buddy.
Watch the full Gullwing experience episode on Nicole’s YouTube channel below.
