1976 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

Convertible

6 cylinder

Automatic

10704212001331

Clear

Gasoline

If you have been looking for a fun starter classic car, my Euro Mercedes 280SL is the car! This R107 is the European version with the smaller but powerful 2.8 liter engine. Its as fast as the 70's US market 450SLs. And with its light weight, it's much more agile than those anemic V8s as well. This is a fun car to drive and not a ponderous boat like many of its '70s brethren. The R107 SL market is also moving up. The 560SL and the euro 500SL have already popped and are now in the high teens to mid twenties for good cars. The 280 ranks behind those two but in front of the 450 and the dog slow 380 for collectability. (Sorry 380 owners!) The previous generation W113 SL has already moved to the point where everything is above $50K. The R107 will probably NOT get to that point but values are going up. Several 500SLs have sold in Europe for excess of $75K.The car has 158K miles. It sure doesn;t feel like it though!Appearance wise, it has euro bumpers so the sleek looks are just what Mercedes designed. And the super rare "English Red" (Paint Code 504) is an amazing vintage 70s orange/red that really catches the eye and stands out among the bland cars of today. It also stands out among the brown and yellow and silver that most SLs seem to be.For someone wants the vintage look but is unable to afford a W113 SL this 280 features the body-color, painted hubcaps. Also giving it a vintage look are the chrome wheel arch extensions. Normally, I'm not a fan of them but on this car and in this color it really works. We are running 25mm spacers to push the 14" wheels out closer to the corners. This gives the car a tougher look vs the "tipping" over look most SLs have.As a 1976 model, it does have to be smogged if it stays in California. But its been here a long time, is BAR certified, and does not have trouble passing smog. Finding a Euro SL that is California legal is RARE!Most R107 SLs these days are beaters. A year ago when I bought this SL, it was heading in that direction. Towards part car oblivion! We saved it and turned it into a proper driver that you could take anywhere. When we got it, the drive train was great but the cosmetics were a disaster. The previous owner had replaced the drivers side floor pan but the seats, carpets and and wood, everything, was worn out. The seats were belching the dust of the expired horsehair pads! The carpets were faded. We stripped out the interior, used POR15 on all surfaces, replaced all the carpets with new German made carpet, installed new seat foam, new seat covers , and a new rear jump seat. We restored the wood console and installed a new dash cap. The console, which is normally all cracked on vintage R107s was in good shape and just needed a basic cleaning.For the exterior, the previous owner had painted it a few years ago. The paint was single stage and quite thick. But it was not done very well. So we got out the 2500 sandpaper and went over the entire car to get rid of all the orange peal and any imperfections we could find. There are still a few on the body. But we did get most of them. The only issue now with the paint is that they masked a few of the chrome items (chrome fender arches headlight eyebrows) rather than removing them and properly painting. But being single stage paint, it really responded to the sanding and looks really good now. Most R107 SLs either run with the hard top on always or just the soft top. This car was driven exclusively with the hard top. When we put the soft top up, it almost disintegrated - just like the seats! So we put on a brand new high quality cloth top. Not a cheap vinyl top! This way you can stack the hard top in the corner and forget it all summer. The car is also running brand new Kumho tires. As mentioned before, the 25mm H&R hub-centric spacers really make a difference in the stance. Its classic but looks tough!For international buyers, we're happy to work with your agent(s). I sold my 1974 450SL to Germany and a rare 1967 Fiat 850 Spider to Japan back in November with no issues. I deal with international customers every day so we're happy to work with you.After all this work, why am I selling? Well, for one thing, we used this car as a development platform for our R107 project line (seat foam, euro bumpers, console refinishing, spacers etc) Plus, I have too many projects and frankly, I'm a process guy rather than an end-results guy. So once we were done, its time to move on to the next project. Oh, and the wife wants garage space. Happy wife.....Last, for those who like the look of my 280, our company does sell Euro bumpers for US market SLs along with some other key products. Feel free to ask us about these as well. They can be seen on the MAcarbon website under R107. So to sum up, my 1976 R107 280SL is a great car that is ready to drive and be enjoyed. Good luck bidding. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, please stop by our office to take a look.On Jul-27-16 at 11:12:18 PDT, seller added the following information: Here is a listing of some of the costs of the work performed:- New Canvas Top $1200 - New Kumho Tires $300- Wheel Spacers $300- Paint Color Sand and Polish $1200- Paint Touch up $700- Premium Velour Carpet Set (German Made) $425- MAcarbon Seat Foam Set (German Made) $850 - MB Tex seat covers $400- Rear Jump Seat $400- MAcarbon Refinished Center Console, Ashtray and AC Panel $400- Starter Motor $200- Cap, Rotor and Plugs $100 Total of over $6,0000. Not including the labor to install all of the parts.