1980 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

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1980 Mercedes 450SL in beautiful and rare Sage Green Metallic paint with Crème leather (not MB Tex) interior. I have owned this car for over 4 years. I had always wanted one and was very patient in finding the “right” one prior to purchasing it. I looked consistently for about 5 years and drove many but it was difficult to find one that made the cut. My stipulations were primarily that I wanted a “high level” driver’s car that had no rust but did have as close to a complete history of maintenance records as possible. In addition, I wanted one with enough miles on it to know that it’s been driven and hadn’t sat for long periods of time. If you’ve owned these cars before you know that they don’t like this. I also wanted a 1980 because it was the last year of the 4.5 liter iron block engine, it had the lowest compression and essentially was a very low-maintenance engine. Yes, it’s also the lowest HP due to all of the emission restrictions but the reliability, to me, was paramount. Basically, a car with great bones. I’ve owned a number of Mercedes’ and know that these are not Honda’s, they always need something to make them perfect and if you’re not willing to provide them additional attention then they are probably not the car for you. I have a significant history of records for the car going back to 1984. I have an extensive service history for the car as well as a spreadsheet of items that I maintained myself. This car has always been garaged since I’ve owned it and it appears that the previous owner did the same. A cotton car cover is included with the car. The car has only been waxed using Zaino show car waxes during my ownership. I’ve put approximately 5,000 miles on the car since I’ve owned it. Usually a weekend car, I have taken it on several 200+ mile trips from Atlanta to Birmingham, Alabama. Being in the South, I can drive this car comfortably about 9 months out of a given year. I have installed the included hard top for several winters but mostly have just used the soft top. Although the tops are both fine, if I need the top, I generally prefer to take a different car. I will say that with the hard top installed, this car is much quieter than one would expect. The normal Mercedes maintenance notwithstanding, this car could fairly easily be used as a daily driver. Even though it’s a two-seater, it has a decent-sized trunk and space behind the front seats. Also, I am 6’8” and this is one of the few roadsters made where I fit comfortably in either the driver or passenger seats with headroom not being a terrible problem when the top is up. The car runs very well and starts right up. The car shifts properly and smoothly. Brakes are in good shape and operate properly. I installed a new front right caliper in 2017 after I experienced a leak. The paint is in great shape as well as the trim. I would expect that the car may have had a respray at some point but it is very high quality and is to factory color specs. Windows raise and lower properly. The leather is good on the passenger seat but has some tears on the driver’s seat. The MB Tex "pleather" is frankly a much better material for this car as the leather deteriorates faster and cracks. I had considered replacing the leather with MB Tex but decided against it because I added sheepskin covers a few years ago and leave them on permanently. One of the headrests has some cracking in the leather on the side. I have reinserted the original Becker Mexico stereo but did not reconnect it. The dash has no cracks aside from about a 1/16" crack next to one of the defrost vents which is hardly noticeable. So let’s talk about the climate control system. This is without a doubt the achilles heal of the entire car. It was purchased by Mercedes from Chrysler so the ‘78-‘80 450’s could have automatic climate control. It’s very unreliable and multiple people rebuild the regulator system and/or offer replacement type systems. It is a vacuum-type system. I have removed the regulator from this car and installed a simple on/off valve under the hood to properly route the coolant through the heater core during the colder months. You only need to switch it twice per year, once to open it when it gets cool out and one to close it when the weather warms up. This system is notorious for bleeding hot air out of the bottom vents on your feet and legs even with the heater off so this system serves as a bonus so it doesn't leak hot air out from under the dash in the summer. I got this idea from Mercedessource.com which sells a kit for conversion. Also, the AC was converted back in the 2000’s to R134a refrigerant and is said to hold coolant fine. When I removed the climate control regulator, however, I apparently did something which rendered the AC switch inoperable. I did take it to my indy who charged me 2 hours labor to say that he could trip the AC manually and it worked fine and blew cold but couldn’t tie it back to the switch. Also, this was about 3 years ago. I say all that to say this. The AC doesn’t switch on. I’ve never used it anyway. Overall, I have absolutely loved owning this car. It is a low-cost, solid and reliable vehicle that, in my opinion, is one of the best-looking cars on the road. It is very clean and can be used daily, if needed. I have insured it through Hagerty and it costs me about $350 per year. That being said, it is not a show car and it has even been driven in the rain a couple of times !! I will have two kids in college next year (at the same time) so “The Green Hornet” must go. I hope its next owner will have as much fun with it as my family has.