Jay Leno finds SLS AMG Roadster perfect

The AMG part of Mercedes is launching a roadster version of the [SLS] gullwing. I am fortunate and got a first drive of it. Like the gullwing, the roadster is a modern interpretation of Mercedes of the 1950s. For Mercedes, as for British companies such as Jaguar, heritage and lineage are crucial. They're the trump card they hold over Japanese companies who can really only go back 50 years. Mercedes can go so far back they can claim to have invented the first car.So if two cars came on the market and they're both sort of equally priced with the same performance, you say this is the one; the one with the heritage. That's why th SLS AMG gullwing, and now the new roadster, work. They give a strong nod to their 1950s grandparents. Like the '50s version, the gullwing has a limited audience. The doors are a statement and are for the purist but the roadster is more practical. My first reaction is that it is not as dramatic as the gullwing. Then you look at the front, which is extremely impressive and really stands out. I know how hard it is to do a modern interpretation of a car like that, with all the safety features and everything. Initially, the roadster is more likely to be mistaken for a regular Mercedes convertible. The gullwing will always be recognisable; your eye just goes to the roof. For me, with the roadster, I immediately think back to the one of 1959-60 - that front end. The proportions are nice but I'm always amazed at how physically big cars are now. You can't rest your elbow on the window anymore when you're driving. Those days are gone, but the creature comforts are unbelievable. A hot air vent up around your neck is brilliant. On a cold day you just turn that on. Amazing.In a Mercedes convertible, when the roof is up you think you're in a closed car. The days of fluttering plastic rear windows are over. I like a closed car. Roadsters are fine and convertibles are fun, but I don't have to be seen. I just like a closed car. To me, the cabin of my Jaguar XK120 is very comforting. I'm like a cat; I like to get in a little space.That's not to say the convertible won't be a big seller. On the contrary. I think the gullwing and roadster were designed in parallel. These days I think all manufacturers are looking forward; whether you're Nissan or anybody, you come out with your hard top and then, 18 months later, you introduce the convertible. The Camaro did the same thing. Convertibles were always, from a construction and handling point of view, inferior. A buddy of mine had a mid-60s Lincoln four-door with the suicide doors in the back, and every time he went over railway tracks he'd get this "tick, tick, tick, tick" as the doors moved up and down. Or, if you parked it on an angle, with one wheel maybe two inches higher than the other, you couldn't open the door. That's how flexi-flyer the chassis was. That's just not relevant now. The fact is that you could flip an SLS convertible and that roll hoop and windscreen would hold you.When I was a kid I did new-car prep, setting up new cars for customers; putting on licence plates, that kind of thing. The kind of thing an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old would do at a car dealership, and I loved it. I would get to drive the Mercedes 600 - still one of my favourites - as well as my all-time favourite, the 6.3.I would see pictures of that car coming around a track and think, "where is that?". Well, it was at the Mercedes plant in Stuttgart. To test this new roadster I actually got to drive on it, which was great. From / The National