The best of the best of the R107's SL's

This charming 1980 450SL is really one of the last special R107's out there. The 1980 Model year was the last of the tough steel engines. double timing chains. and benefited from the updated colors and textures of the 1980's. The 1981 Model year brought us the 380SL . besieged with problems of snapping single timing chains. horsepower had at this point dropped to a mere 155hp. The US EPA emissions regulations had all but choked these cars out of their power and coupled with  US DOT rediculous bumper and headlight requirements for US spec cars. they almost became comical in their appearance.

This car has been converted back to European Spec. The bumpers. headlights. etc made it unattractive and I decided it needed to go back to the way it was designed to look like. Now at least you can see out of the headlights. park in your garage. or in a tight space and have beautiful chrome bumpers all around the car highlighting an already pretty color.

So back to this car. It is a one owner car. i  has the original bill of sale. a copy of the original MSO. from MD  and the original Florida title printed in 1995. The maintenance file on this car is organized. bound. typed and every record of work that was done to the car is with it.   The rich had secretarys that could do this before we had execel and quickbooks.    The car was titled new in Maryland but brought to Florida to spend the winters here. and in 1995 titled here. It was bought at Euromotorcars in Bethesda. MD. The price was $35. 39. 00. And the leather option was $767. Totalling $36. 664. Quite a lot of money for 1980 considering in todays money. calculated with inflation would be well over $137. 00. People weren't able to lease cars. Interest rates on homes were 18%. When you had a Mercedes in 1980 you paid for it and every one knew you were rich.

Its finished in one of my favorite colors which is Orient Red. Most cars were painted signal red. my personal favorite. but sommeone wanting to be less flashy would have chosen this color. Palmomino. just like the horse for which the color was named after. is the color of the interior. Back then Mercedes gave you many choices to choose from outside and inside. fortunately this owner choose good colors. The colors are period correct. however still extremely classy and elegant today. I have seen beautiful cars  with low miles. that you couldn't give away because of their "perior correct" paint colors. nbsp;in green with brown interior. or yellow with bamboo interior. awful today. must have been the rage back then. Classics stay classic. Have and always will.

The strong points on this car is its pedigree. I consider this to be a "Virgin" car as nobody but the original owner had a say in how it was repaired or altered.  The A/C blows strong and cold. 1978-1981 cars had a very unreliable Servo unit. nbsp;then and today. and the lucky cars are the last to get the parts that Mercedes deems worthy enough to get. nbsp;and this car has one that was replaced making this A/C work. The engine starts and runs smoothly. it drives well. slow by todays standards. but still lot's of fun.

Hence the original Becker Radio. no crazy CD players. TV's whatever people put in their cars today. The leather is brand new from Germany in its original material. the top is new with original Sonnendecke materials Herring bone pattern beige on the inside black. outside. nbsp; crystal clear rear plastic. The carpets have been replaced with the original velour material. unlike most aftermarket kits. The car was nice. very nice to begin with. However unless you have a black interior. colors start to fade. Leather no matter how garaged. oiled. etc it will fade and harden. As well the carpets will fade. and stain. This car is almost 35 years old and if anyone of us think we look like we did in our pictures in 1980. we are only lying to ourselves.

This car is not a councours car it never was meant to be. Nobody then thought these would be collectible it just happened to fall into the hands of an owner who liked things maintained and perfect. Whoever gets this car will be blessed with a real prize. something to pass down to future generations and if kept up will hopefully look this good 35 years from now.   The car can be seen in Palm Beach. FL upon Appointment only. You may also have the information on the mechanic who serviced the car for the past twenty years. ho will tell you what was done. which is all in the binder file that goes with the car.

In the future there are some other cars going to be listed shortly. A 2007 E63 Designo Mercedes. A 2011 Audi Q5 3. 2. A Rolls Royce Silver Wraith II. a few other nice 107 SL's so check back and see in the future if there is something you are looking for. I do this strictly as a hobby and come accross wonderful one owner low mileage cars in the Palm Beach area.

Michael 561. 309. 4626