All Entries Tagged With: "R107"
Easily The Nicest 450SLC Benz
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Garage Current ::: 1977 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC
WHO knew that signal red on a 450SLC could look so hot? And not a color to be found Stateside – at least not in a great quantity. Indeed, it seems that the large majority of surviving C107 extended wheelbase coupes are in far more tame hues like silver or white and usually feature rust accents along the door sills and quarter panels.
Garage Current, the Japanese based purveyor of fine German machines, has once again offered up a truly lust-worthy Mercedes-Benz from Stuttgart’s golden era. Nearly flawless inside and out, the car is being offered with only 48,000 km (29,825 mi) on the clock.
Even if we’d prefer leather, the velour interior has a velvetly newness that is so inviting.
Oh, that we might be a hand upon that helm…
eBay Watch: 1989 Benz 560SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL
HARD to beat an R107 SL for pure curbside appeal. The ultimate boulevardier of both the 70s and 80s, it’s as if this generation Benz roadster mirrors the best, trouble free years of Michael Jackson – for those of you who appreciate Jackson, the performer. The 560SL was the most sophisticated of these SLs, though not a true 560 – in the sense that the car’s V8 seem to have the same range and oomph of the 500SL. Still, the 560SL was unique to North America – so embrace those marvelous sealed beam lamps and 5 mph bumpers. This Benz’s main coin in trade is character.
[eBay]
eBay Watch! 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1989 Mercedes 560SL For Sale
THE ULTIMATE boulevardier, the automotive experience doesn’t get much better than cruising, top-down, behind the helm of an R107 generation Benz. M.Y. 1989 being the last year for the 560SL and R107, you’d have the benefit of that generation SL’s most powerful V8 (though, sadly, not quite tuned to the same degree as the “identical” 5.6 liter in the 560SEL or 560SEC), driver’s side airbag, ABS, and the smaller variant of the regulation-third-brake lamp. That said, you will miss the 70s cat-eared headrests.
[eBay]
eBay Watch: 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: Mercedes-Benz 230SL
PARTIAL though I am to the R107 generation SL (1972-1989), there are plenty of Benz aficionados who favor the svelte simplicity of the earlier W113 “Pagoda” SL (1963-1971).
Truth is both generation Mercedes roadsters make for classic weekend tourers. Pagoda fans (the SL got its nickname from Paul Bracq’s slightly concave detachable hardtop) might wish to gaze on this seemingly perfect Californian 230SL with Euro headlamps.
Signal red over black MB-tex (vinyl) interior with black Pagoda roof, this 1967 230SL underwent a bumper-to-bumper restoration 800 miles ago. No word on how many miles the SL traveled beforehand.
Buy-it-now price is on the high side @ $38,900. But for a beautiful topless Teuton from the 60s, as classically beautiful as Anne Margaret, what price perfection? Caveat emptor!
[1973 Mercedes 450SLC For Sale + Chat With Seller
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC for sale
“NOTHING’S perfect,” David Wayne, eBay seller for nearly five years tells me on the phone. “My dog’s not perfect, my house isn’t perfect, but compared to most used cars, it’s damn near perfect.”
Mr. Wayne, a Texan with a quarter-century of selling cars under his belt – among other dealers, he was a fleet manager at Park City Ford in Dallas – is looking to sell a mint-looking 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC with 170K+ miles on the clock.
Like any good car salesman, he’s as adamant about his offer as anything and his clients (the SLC’s third and longest owners) are said to have chased every detail.
Fortunately, he says he’s got 20 years of receipts to back his story.
“They have put a ton of money into this car over time. Whatever it needed, they gave it. They were going to have the best running SLC around.”
And good running SLCs seem hard to come by these days. This 450, one of fewer and fewer visually prime specimens of the C107 generation S-Class coupés, received a fresh paint job in the early 2000s. According to Mr. Wayne, the owners spent $16,000.
“No expense was spared on this car. I’ve got receipts [totaling] over $50,000.”
He lists what works: the AC blows cold (choice), the body’s without rust, the engine leaks no oil and is otherwise without sin (aside from needing a good detail), and the transmission shifts as it should.
“The seats are firm and nice,” he advises.
The odometer has been replaced. This is the second which shows more than 70K miles. The original stopped at around 100K – a service which was also documented.
The wire-wheels, Euro-spec headlamps, and thin, pre-US-five-mph-reg. bumpers suggest a gray-market Benz, but Mr. Wayne says otherwise.
“I think this was the first year they brought the 450SLC to the US. It was the most expensive car you could buy from Mercedes,” he says.
A quick fact check proves that this is mostly true. The 350SLC was first introduced to the US in 1972, the 450SLC followed in ’73 and every SLC was imported with specially made sealed-beam units that were installed on all North American market R107 and C107 Benzes up until the R107 series discontinuation in 1989.
That means that one of this SLC’s three owners likely swapped out for the more powerful Euro halogens.
Mr. Wayne is looking to sell the 450SLC for $11,995. It’s the second time he’s listed it on eBay and he says he’ll ship anywhere.
“I’ve got another [R107] SL I’m going to sell,” he says, “but I’ve got to sell this one first.”
Mercedes’ Classic Air Vents
Klassisches Design
By Gunnar Heinrich | YouTube still via Autoblog
SO, Motor Trend scored a ride in the new Mercedes-Benz SLS roadster. Kudos to them. No jealousy here, honest.
And Autoblog posted about it… as, well, Autoblog is prone to do. Let’s give credit to Autoblog’s Damon Lavrinc for the piece. Tremendous.
But what really caught my eye is featured nicely in this picture. As you might’ve noticed, I’ve helpfully circled the three details I’m most interested about.
Yes, in the flash new Benz super car – once known mistakenly as the SLC (as in the old 70s coupe) – that’s meant to replace (displace?) the whoppingly overpriced SLR, yours is interested in where air flow meets the cabin.
And for those of you who are familiar with the marque and are thinking that you might’ve seen vents like these before…
Well, you have.
This is the interior of the W123 diesel from the turn of the 70s and 80s. Circular air vents were a big part of Mercedes interior design then…those thirty years ago. Indeed, the R107 SL featured them since, well, the start of the 70s!
Classic MB design in other words. More evidence to the maxim that like a fine pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers -what’s old is new once more.
