YOU might think that Clark Gable and Terence O'Neill have about as much in common as George Clooney and Alasdair McDonnell. And while, beyond their obviously equally distinguished good looks, you would be right about silver foxes Clooney and McDonnell - though there's every possibility the SDLP leader, like Clooney, makes a mean Nespresso and, judging by his election posters, is no stranger to the age-defying elixir of Photoshop - you would be wrong about Gable and O'Neill.
One, of course, was the 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn' king of Hollywood, described by Joan Crawford, who knew a thing or two, as "the most masculine man" she had ever met; the other, the Big House prime minister whose modest political reforms of the 1960s proved too much for recalcitrant unionism and a Northern Ireland on the brink of the Troubles.
But Gable and O'Neill shared utterly impeccable taste in motor cars, each being among the very lucky few blessed to own Mercedes-Benz's extraordinary 300SL 'Gullwing' sports coupe.
Mercedes-Benz, who practically invented the car, had never before built anything like it. They've not built anything like it since, for that matter, and the 300SL's incredible speed, glamour and exclusivity were matched by an equally incredible price tag.
It was essentially a road-going version of a successful race car and saw action on the world's finest race tracks, including Co Antrim's Dundrod circuit.
The 300SL's unconventional 'gullwing' doors, which swing upwards from a hinge in the centre of the roof, are intrinsic to the car's enduring appeal and its 'looks fast standing still' styling. It's no wonder that when John DeLorean was dreaming up his own, Dunmurry-built, fantasy car, he wanted it to have gullwing doors of its own. The vast majority of the 1,400 Mercedes Gullwings produced between 1954 and 1957 were destined for the United States, where it became the must-have car for Hollywood stars, celebrities and the very wealthy.
Tiny numbers made it to the UK, with an early example being delivered to O'Neill. His car, chassis number 198.040.5500545, was completed at the Mercedes-Benz factory in July 1955, where it was painted in eye-catching Feuerwehrrot, or fire brigade red. As a child, I had a Corgi model with the same colour scheme; I've been besotted with the Gullwing ever since.
In 1955, a Gullwing coupe cost around £4,500 - an astonishing price tag. At the time, that would have bought three decent houses and, with an average weekly wage of £9.25,
it would have taken you 10 spend-free years to accumulate the cash to buy one 300SL. What this otherworldly creation must have looked like 60 years ago, blatting about a grey Northern Ireland still gripped by lingering post-war austerity, isn't recorded - a red bullet flashing by, shaking the ground and splitting the air with the bark of its 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine, an alien in a roadscape occupied by dawdling Ford Prefects, Morris Minors and Austin A30s.
And if the price of this very special Mercedes-Benz that was out of this world for 1955, then its speed was from another galaxy.
A speedometer clock which read to 170mph wasn't just for show. Where a Morris Minor of the time was able to wheeze and puff its way to a mighty top speed of 63mph, the Gullwing was a proper continent-crusher, capable of a whole 100mph more. It could also sprint from rest to 60mph in 8.8 seconds and it reached 100mph in 21 seconds, figures still highly acceptable in 2015. And in the same 60 seconds it took a Morris Minor to heave itself to 60mph, the Gullwing was already well past 120mph. I've not been able to find out how much mileage O'Neill put on his Gullwing - though given his day job, it surely wasn't much - before selling it on but by the 1970s it had made its way to Los Angeles, eventually resting in a collection in Malibu, California. The O'Neill 300SL Gullwing was sold earlier this year, at the prestigious Scottsdale Auction in Arizona, with auctioneers Bonhams describing it as qualifying "for anyone's top 10 list of the greatest automobiles of all time", "instantly recognisable not only by automobile buffs, but virtually anyone on the planet" and "among the most valued and collectable sports cars ever produced".
O'Neill's Gullwing "is one of the finest examples we have ever had the pleasure to offer for public sale," said Bonhams. Connoisseurs with deep pockets agreed, for the hammer eventually fell at $1,375,000, or around £912,000.And if you think that's expensive, it's a relative bargain beside the $2,035,000 Clark Gable's car sold for a couple of years ago. Mercedes-Benz also built 29 lightweight alloy-bodied Gullwings, which are most prized of all; the last time one of those came up for sale, almost $5 million changed hands.
Whatever O'Neill's political legacy - and he tends to be judged kindly these days - he clearly knew a classy car when he saw one. And now you also know what he had in common with Clark Gable.