RuPaul delivers a charming parallel park tutorial in a classy vintage Mercedes SL convertible
Yesterday, RuPaul randomly posted a driving tutorial, of all things. While he’s known as something of a “quiet” gearhead, we aren’t exactly sure why he felt inspired to do it. In any case, we’re totally here for it. There are a few reasons. First, the production is stellar. The class! The cuts! The effects! Second, the tutorial itself is actually super helpful. Lastly, four words: vintage Mercedes SL convertible. Let’s get into it.
“So you want to talk about parallel parking?”
This seriously might be the most helpful parallel park tutorial I’ve seen.
RuPaul explains that the secret to parallel parking is keeping track of your passenger side door, or PSD. He narrates when and where to bounce your attention from the PSD’s front and rear seam, car “A” (the car parked in front of you), and car “B” (the car parked behind you).
The video pauses to highlight positions, distances, and areas of focus. It’s awesome.
RuPaul’s vintage Mercedes-Benz SL convertible
Now, let’s talk about the car. It appears that RuPaul’s pristine Mercedes-Benz SL convertible looks to be from the R107 generation, but it’s hard to see the series.
Mercedes built 237,287 R107 SLs from 1971 to 1989, second only to the G-Series for the automaker’s longest production runs.
RuPaul’s classic SL has a soft top and a carpeted rear bench seat. The interior is bathed in dark blue. It’s clearly a 500 or 560 with the typical V8 engine. Based on the black matte door handle and interior color, I’d put my money on a mid-to-late 80s 560SL.
The celebrity has been into SLs for some time now. Back in 2015, he posted a green 1972 Mercedes-Benz SL convertible on Twitter, captioning the photo as his “dream car.”
However random, RuPaul’s perfect parallel parking tutorial gained quick ground on Instagram – it nabbed almost 400,000 likes in less than 24 hours.
