1988 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

300Sl Convertible

6

Manual

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Clear

Gasoline

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 What I have here is a nice, ultra-rare 1988* Mercedes 300SL roadster with a manual 5-spd transmission, and matching hardtop. She runs like a champ and has but 109,250 miles; ‘just broken in’ for this era Mercedes. She has a current PA state inspection and I believe could probably be driven anywhere. Her actual VIN # is WDB1070411A044396. Despite obvious similarities to other ‘R107’ body-styled roadsters produced over the model’s 19-year run, she may well be one of the, if not THE, rarest of them all. If you like to drive stick-shifts, have a warm spot in your heart for this classic roadster, and like to be driving something special or (nearly) unique, this car may be the perfect ticket. You may see lots of other 107's come and go but it's exceedinghly unlikely that you'll see another one of these any time soon. You may already know that Mercedes never imported this body style into the US with a stick-shift. Mercedes US operations believed (probably rightly so) that Americans wanted only the V8 powered automatics and so never offered the models with the stick. Whenever you do see one it most certainly was brought over as a grey-market car by its owner or a specialty import firm. Nevertheless a small number of these cars with sticks did make it over here, especially the earlier 280SL twin-cam variant that was in production from 1974 through 1985. Also available with a 5-spd stick, it is a spirited car that needs to be revved a bit higher than the 300SL but is also a very satisfying car to own and drive. Both of these sixes have marginally better fuel economy than the V8’s. According to my internet research, the only shortcoming of the 280 engine is that it needs periodic rebuilding (every 100-150k or so) and being a twin-cam makes it a difficult and costly affair to do right. In fact, on at least one Mercedes forum it is mentioned that even Mercedes Master mechanics would prefer never seeing another one of those cars again! In contrast, the 3 SOHC liter inline six in this car is often praised (somewhat exaggeratedly I’m sure) as a ‘million-mile’ engine; an ‘unkillable drivetrain’ say others. The engine was very popular for many years and was a mainstay in the sedans (which oddly enough were offered with the same 5-spd stick in the US!!) offered in the mid-eighties and indeed has a well-earned reputation for reliability and long life, much more so than the 280. It’s a very torquey engine that also likes to rev but produces more ‘off-line’ power and so may be even more drivable than the 280. HERE’S THE THING, the 300SL roadster from this vintage was only produced from 1985 through 1989 and in relatively low numbers compared to the overall production for this body style over its 19 years (13,742 out of about 238,000). So then only about 5.5% of all of these cars were the 300SL and no one seems to know how many of these were the 5-spd manuals. I’ve seen hints that it could be as low as a couple of thousand, worldwide. So being a 300SL makes it uncommon enough to begin with, but being a 5-spd 300SL makes it truly rare. This specific model then is not only among the rarest, but also the most reliable, most durable, most economical, least costly to repair, and among the most fun to drive, along with the 280sl, and 500sl if you like stick-shifting of course. They are highly prized in Europe where they are valued nearly as highly as some of the V8 stick-shift roadsters that, like this car, were sold only in Germany or Australia. Lastly, you’ll notice if you compare it with any of the ‘regular’ cars sold here that this little beauty has the much nicer, much smaller European bumpers front and rear. It makes the cars with regular US bumpers look positively grotesque by comparison (IMHO). ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR CAR…there’s a longer story about how I bought this car for my wife as a graduation present (for getting her Master’s degree), but the reality of the actual car, as she experienced it from behind its “giant” steering wheel (by a person who had never actually sat in one, let alone driven one) fell far short of the image she had been nurturing in her mind for the two previous decades, during which she considered it the most beautiful car in the world. I’ve hung onto it for these last 4 years simply because it was a rarity. While I do enjoy driving it top down on nice sunny days, and drive it regularly to keep all of its systems exercised (but I only put about 1,000 miles per year on it in a ‘busy’ year), it wouldn’t have been a car I would have chosen for myself and so it’s time now to get back my garage space back and move the car onto its next loving owner.This is now especially more pressing since we recently acquired a mint 2005 Audi S4 cabriolet 6-spd manual for her, and now I have to thin the 5-car 'fleet'. CONDITION And while it runs perfectly well, as you can see from the pictures, it’s not a perfect car. Unless I mention it in the following details though you can assume that everything else on the car works as expected. I believe the car to be original, which includes its paint, top and seats. Now then, the top will keep you dry if you get caught out in the rain, but it has some tears which are the result of age (and, the previous owner claims to have slicied his way into the locked car with the keys in the ignition!). Since the top stays down throughout the warmer months and only goes up in colder weather, I’ve not ever cared to fix it.Why invest in replacing something already functional (but not necessarily pretty) that stays hidden and unused for most of the year? It just didn't make any practical sense to put more money into a car my wife really didn't want anyway. The car is equipped with another rarity for the time period which is the dual-zone (‘his and her’s’) air conditioning system, also not imported to the US in the ‘official’ models. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, even though all the bits are there. That too fell into the same category of things I wasn’t worried about fixing since I never use it. The heater works great though, and does regulate the two sides of the car independently. Had my wife embraced the car as hoped, I’d have fixed everything for her, but of course, then the car wouldn’t now be up for sale! Of course, none of these deficiencies detract from the car’s driveability or safety. Being original the seats, which remain fully sprung and supportive (not at all collapsed), show that the leather surfaces are a bit ‘tired’, having been serving their purpose now for 26 years. They’re perfectly useable as is, but I would have had them resurfaced for the wife. BTW, I think the pictures make them look a tad or two better than they do in real life. The car also has the optional child rear seat which might be ok for occupants under the age of 5, but no one else should be seated there unless you dislike them intensely. They too could use to be resurfaced.The paint is very presentable and passes the ’10- foot’ test with ease. But move up closer and you’ll see that at a couple of times in its life the two-man crew trying to fit the hardtop onto the car slipped and the lock pin won its argument with the deck paint. I wash and wax her several times a year and think that a professional buff job would take the finish to yet another level. They really painted cars well back then. I just did the WnWax this past weekend and my wife positively gasped when she saw her. She comes out looking that good! The tires have good tread, but if you wanted to take the car on a long-distance journey I’d suggest getting a new set. ‘Old’ tires worry me no matter how much tread they have left. The newest pair here are the rears which are about 5 years old and the fronts are older yet. The original dash, suffering from the usual cracks that afflict these cars, is hiding underneath one of those plastic covers made for the car. It fits well, doesn’t rattle while driving and actually looks pretty decent. Only the Mercedes cognoscenti would recognize it as not factory original. I replaced the visors because those too had gotten pretty worn and tattered, and were in my constatnt line of sight! The replacements (which were darned expensive!) don’t have the little built-in mirrors for powdering your nose that the original car had. BEST OF THE BREED It’s worth closing out the description by mentioning that the very best of this series Mercedes roadster were produced from 1986-1989. These later car benefited from an accumulation of improvements and tweaks over the years to correct things like overheating in the 70’s and rust, as well as suspension, engine and fuel injection driveability issues. This car has anti-lock brakes which were only introduced in 1985 (but it does not have any airbags!). In fact, Mercedes seriously improved their galvanizing process in 1985 which mostly explains why this car is rust free, along with a small repair I had professionally done when I first got it. It also has the modern rims with the tiny alignment holes built in. And of course, it has excellent 4-wheel disc brakes. The real point here is that this car was built during the period when the ‘best’ of these variations R107’ body series, were built. All of these roadsters (and their coupe brothers) are the last of the ‘hand-built’ Mercedes. They were literally nicknamed ‘Der Panzerwaggen’ (‘tanks’) by the engineers who designed the cars owing to how over-engineered they were. Combined with the handcrafting assembly process, they represent the high-water mark for Mercedes vintage engineering and production. Truly, the last cars of an era. You can find a wealth of information on the whole R107 series out on the web, including articles that go into a lot more detail about why the later year cars are the absolute best of this breed. You WILL NOT however find much information on the 300SL 5-spd. It simply wasn’t produced in the kinds of numbers that ever got it onto ‘the radar’, if you know what I mean. The 280sl 5-spd was produced in twice the numbers from 1974 through 1985 and examples of those cars actually aren’t all that hard to find. In fact, a guy two towns over from me has one and I’ve seen it up on eBay a couple of times already. You’ll occasionally see some mention of the 300Sl 5-spd on a Mercedes forum or blog, (possibly even a comment from me!) from one of the handful of owners of these cars in the US. My own best guess is that there probably are fewer than 10 of this specific car in the US right now; maybe only 6.And this is one of them! Given that rarity one might think them difficult to maintain. The good news here is that the car is actually an amalgam of the 300 drive-train found in many Mercedes sedans from the 80’s and the ‘normal’ R107 chassis, so there’s no problem getting service or parts for the car. It is the best of all worlds if you’re seeking an R107 roadster, and want to drive a stick! *…oh yeah, about this asterisk. I eventually got Mercedes’ own classic website to send me a photocopy of the actual build sheet for this car. It rolled out of the shop February 2nd of 1986 according to that sheet, so it’s not actually a 1988 model. My guess is that some clerk in a US registration office accidentally mis-read the European title papers at the time of ‘naturalizing’ the car over here and thought the ‘6’ was an ‘8’, and so the car has forever been titled as a 1988. But the build sheet says 1986, and I thought the next owner should certainly know that. LASTLY, please don't waste my time with low-ball offers. I will ignore any and all such requests. I have had this car up on eBay several times and have now lowered the price to the lowest point (in the reserve) I am willing to go, and I will gladly hang onto the car if no one meets that number. I personally don't dislike the car (though I wish I still had my excellent E28 533i I sold to get it instead), and actually enjoy driving it during its weekly excursions. Whether or not you agree, this car as a certain 'unusual'/'rare' factor going for it and if I weren't in a position to have to get rid of (at least) one car, I wouldn't have lowered the price this much. Though the usual 380/450/560 V8's are a dime-a-dozen and can be had anytime, anywhere, I will likely never be able to replace this specific model with another one should I ever want to. Once this model is gone, I don't ever expect to see another one. I think that's worth something and I've already discounted the price well below where I think that point is. P.S., it is also currently being advertised on Autotrader and Craigslist too, so I could end this auction at any time. SHIPPING If you can’t come here and drive the car back to wherever, then all arrangements for having it picked up and shipped are the buyer’s responsibility. I will not arrange for any shipping. I will accept PayPal, cash or a (verifiable) certified bank check drawn against a local bank we can drive to and have cash the thing. Sorry to be so anal about that but the world is getting to be a crazier and crazier place in whcih to transact business. Happy bidding. On Aug-09-12 at 09:03:00 PDT, seller added the following information: UPDATE as of 8/9/2012; I had brought the car in to my shop for her annual inspection today. Turns out she needed new rear brake rotors and pads, new front rotors (pads were ok) and two new rear tires. So all that will be done and ready for her new owner!!!