1974 Mercedes-Benz 450SL

I'm totally spitballing on the year here. The R107 version of the Mercedes-Benz SL class was produced with only minimal cosmetic changes for almost two decades, from 1971 to 1989. The fact that this one's a 450SL, plus the color and the bumpers, narrows it down to the '74-'79 model year range.

Something like two thirds of all SL-class production went to the US market, and the 450SL version itself was a response to changing demands due to US regs. The 3.5L M116 Benz V-8, with its 9.5:1 compression ratio, wouldn't make it past American emissions standards and so, to make up for the lower 8.0:1 compression ratios necessitated by the unleaded gas used on this side of the pond, it was punched out to 4.5L.

For the 1974 model year the SOHC M117 V-8 put out 190 SAE net horsepower, although that number would slump as the Malaise Era deepened, reaching a nadir of 165.

Road & Track put a '74 450SL through its testing procedures and recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 10.2 seconds, a quarter mile elapsed time of 17.7 seconds at 81.5 through the traps, and a top speed of 124mph. Price as tested was $16,748 gradually-inflating early Seventies dollars, which equals $111k in current money.

This one was photographed in September of 2021 using a Hasselblad Lunar and a Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 OSS zoom lens.

1999 Mercedes-Benz C230 Kompressor

The W201 190E had been the baby Benz of the 1980s, but for the 1994 model year it was replaced by the W202 platform, now called the "C-class".

The Olivier Boulay-penned bodywork still harked to the 190E's classic shape but featured smoother, slightly more curvaceous aero-friendly lines.  

The Desert Silver Metallic one in the photo looks to be from after the 1997 model year facelift.

For the 1999 model year, Mercedes bolted a Roots-type mechanically driven supercharger and an intercooler to their 2.3L DOHC 16V four cylinder and a "Kompressor" badge to the decklid, giving the littlest Benz some added zing. Horsepower was up by 37 to 185, rivaling the 2.8L sixes in their 3-series competitors from BMW.

Car and Driver tested a 1999 C230 Kompressor and noted a zero-to-sixty time of 7.6 seconds and a quarter mile time of 15.7 seconds at 89mph. A governor shut off the fun at 133 miles per hour and it circled a skidpad at 0.81g. Price as tested was $32,685 in 1999 dollars, which is $63,722 when adjusted for inflation.

The one in the pic was snapped with a Canon EOS 7D and an EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM zoom lens in December of 2025.

2009 Mercedes-Benz SL550

The R230, which was the fifth generation of Mercedes-Benz's sporty luxo-roadsters, went on sale for the 2001 model year and got a mild facelift in 2006. To extend its service life it got a much more radical makeover in 2008 for the '09 model year.

For that year the American market was offered the V-8 powered SL550 and the SL600, which had a twin-turbo V-12. (There were also much snarlier AMG versions on the menu.)

This is not to say that the SL550 wasn't plenty snarly in its own right. It was powered by the 5.5L E55 version of the M273 V-8. This was an all-alloy DOHC 32V motor which made use of variable valve timing and a variable length intake manifold to belt out 382 SAE net horsepower, plenty for even the big 4,233 pound droptop.

When Car and Driver tested the R230 SL550 in 2010, it cracked off 4.8 second zero-to-sixty runs and blistered the quarter in 13.5 seconds at 105 mph, roaring up to 157 on the top end before the governor cut off the fun. Price as tested was $114,175 in 2010 dollars, or $169k in current dollars.

This one was photographed in August of 2025 using a Sony a700 and a 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens.

2015 Mercedes-Benz SL400

The 2013 model year saw the launch of the sixth generation of Mercedes-Benz's SL-class of two seat sporting luxo convertibles. (Well, most were convertibles. And most were 2-seaters, although the R107 could be had with a sort of vestigial back seat-ette which could accommodate pets, small children, double lower-extremity amputees, Peter Dinklage, or people you hated.)

Styling-wise, the new R231 was a little less overwrought than the outgoing refreshed R230, which had gotten a little carried away in the vents and strakes department.

Structure-wise, it featured extensive use of aluminum alloy, which helped counter the increasing weight bloat of all the bling expected in a $100k+ luxury sporter. Still, the SL400 in the photo would have tipped the scales at less than a couple hundred pounds shy of two tons.

The SL400 was the junior partner to the SL550. Instead of the latter's V-8, the SL400 had the first six-cylinder motor offered in an SL on the North American market since importation of the R129 SL320 stopped after the 1998 model year. Instead of the classic inline six of the 320, though, the 400 sported a DOHC twin-turbo 3.0L V-6, rated at 329 horsepower.

In a test by Car and Driver, the 2015 SL400 sprinted to sixty in 4.6 seconds and blistered the quarter in 13.1 seconds at 109mph. Price for the well-optioned test car was $106,335 in 2015 dollars, or $144,221 in current bucks.

This one was photographed in July of 2025 using a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens.

2004 Mercedes-Benz CLK500 Cabriolet

Over the course of the Nineties and Aughties, it felt like the number of Mercedes-Benz models of which a car nerd needed to keep track completely ballooned off the charts. Where once there had simply been the C-, E-, S-, and SL-classes and the occasional gray market Geländewagen, now there were SLKs, MLs, Rs, an AMG version of everything, and the CLK coupes and convertibles.

Introduced in the late Nineties, the C208 coupe and A208 cabrio CLK replaced the E-series coupe in the Benz catalog. Although it replaced an E-coupe, it was based on the C-class chassis and the C208 rode on a 105.9" wheelbase.

It was replaced with the C209 for 2002 with the A209 ragtop following in 2003. With an inch more wheelbase, they had actual accommodations for four adults in a relatively compact little hardtop coupe or convertible.

It came in two basic flavors. The more mild-mannered version was the CLK320, with the M112 SOHC 18V 3.2L V-6 that made 215 SAE net horsepower. The racier option was the CLK500, like this Pewter Silver Cabriolet. It had the M113 5.0L V-8, which was also a SOHC motor with three valves per cylinder and a 10.0:1 compression ratio, but which belted out 302 horsepower at 5,600rpm. In the heavier Cabriolet, Mercedes claimed a zero-to-sixty time of six seconds flat.

This one was photographed using a Canon EOS R and a 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens in July of 2025.

1987 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL

The mid-cycle refresh of the W126 Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans saw the 280SE/SEL replaced with a new 300SE/SEL.

These featured the new M103 normally-aspirated fuel-injected SOHC 12V inline six, displacing 3.0L. The engine had debuted in the W124 300E midsize and was rated at 178 SAE net horsepower, which was reasonably potent for the era, although it had its work cut out for it hauling nearly two tons of Benz long wheelbase sedan.

The one in the pictures was photographed in July of 2021 using a Canon EOS Rebel T3 and an EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

1972 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 4.5

The W108/W109 full-size Mercedes sedans were wrapping up a successful run in 1972. Introduced for 1965 and receiving a mid-cycle refresh in '67, they were as responsible as any other model for establishing the brand's status as the sedan for the well-heeled and discerning buyer.

Initially the long wheelbase W109 300SEL sedans came with the M189 SOHC 3.0L inline six, but later a buyer could opt for one of two V-8s. First came the limited production 300SEL 6.3, with the M110 SOHC 6.3L V-8 from the company's limos shoehorned into the engine bay, and then in 1969 the regular production 300SEL 3.5 sported the M116 SOHC 3.5L V-8.

For the 1972 model year, the specter of emissions regulations and regular unleaded fuel was hanging over the U.S. market, complete with the requisite reduction in compression ratios.

In response, Mercedes compensated for the compression ratio being reduced from 9.5:1 to 8.0:1 by increasing the engine's stroke 19.2mm, bringing the displacement up to 4.5L. The resulting W109 300SEL 4.5 was a one-year only offering in the US for 1972.

This example was photographed in August of 2020 using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1982 Mercedes-Benz 380SL

Probably the low-water mark for the North American import Mercedes-Benz SL-class, performance-wise at least, was the '81-'85 380SL.

It replaced the 4.5L V-8 of the earlier 450SL with a 3.8L SOHC V-8 that was rated at 155 SAE net bhp in U.S. trim, a haircut of 25 horsepower from the preceding model. The '79 Oil Crisis had left a bad taste in the public's mouth for "gas guzzlers". Further, the federally-mandated Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for imported marques rose from 19.0 miles per gallon for the 1979 model year to 27.5 for the '85s.

MotorWeek tested an '83 380SL, similar enough to the Signal Red example in the photo, and got an 18.5 second quarter of the $42,000 high roller droptop. That's $133,000 in today's dough.

It all seemed pretty par for the course in the early Eighties, which was the peak of "Decal & Ground Effects" performance packages that added very little real performance. You can see how people watching cars get slower and dumber year after year would write books like The Probability Broach. We had no idea how close we were to the Performance Renaissance.

This one was photographed in March of 2023 using a Canon EOS-1D Mark IV and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS zoom lens.

1980 Mercedes-Benz 300D

The W123 midsize sedans from Mercedes-Benz were the immediate forebears for what's now known as the "E-class" Benz. They were sober-sided, solid cars that broke sales records for the brand.

Launched in 1976, they were sold as coupes, sedans, and wagons, and came with an array of gas and diesel powerplants and both manual and automatic transmissions. These were found in roles as everything from taxicabs to junior executive cars all around the globe, but M-B North America only brought the higher-trim varieties into the U.S. market.

Stateside we could get either the 2.8L fuel-injected DOHC 12V inline-six rated at 142bhp or one of two diesels: the 62hp 2.4L four banger or the 77bhp 3.0L inline five-cylinder. After 1980, only the diesels remained, with the gasoline M110 I6 dropped to keep CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) numbers up.

The early-'80s (you can tell by the yellow lenses on the fog lamps; '76-'79 cars had clear ones) Mercedes-Benz 300D in English Red in these photos would be bog-slow, with a zero-to-sixty time that struggled to crack the twenty second barrier and a top speed of something like 90mph, but they got good mileage for their time and a well-maintained diesel Benz from this era is harder to kill than a cockroach. If you couldn't get 300k miles out of one, you weren't trying, and in an era when a car was considered completely knackered when its five-digit odometer rolled over, that was nothing short of miraculous.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D800 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in May of 2024.

2017 Mercedes-Benz S550 Cabrio

There have been coupe versions of the big Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans since the C126 380SEC debuted back in the late 1981. They didn't hit US shores officially, though, until the 1984 model year, when the 500SEC went on sale here.

However, apparently leery of poaching sales away from the halo SL-class, there was never a convertible S-class coupe until the C217 cabrio made its appearance for the 2015 Benz lineup.

The S550 coupe and cabriolet replaced the luxo C216 CL coupes. Priced at a bougie $132 grand even before you get jiggy wit' the option sheet, the two-and-a-third ton ragtop was powered by a twin-turbo intercooled 32V DOHC direct-injection 5.5L V-8 putting out 449 SAE net horsepower through a 9-speed auto.

The example tested by Car and Driver (with the optional $5900 Sport Package) launched to sixty in 4.4 seconds and dispatched the quarter in thirteen seconds flat at 110mph. The engine's governor ensures you won't get a ticket for more than 132 in a 55. Impressively, all that heft went 'round a skidpad at 0.88g and stopped from seventy in 164 feet.

The example in the photo was snapped with a Fujifilm X-T2 and XF 16-80mm f/4 R WR OIS zoom lens in October of 2024.

1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL

The primary market for Benz's SL roadsters had long been the US, so it was something of an irony that the best versions of the third generation R107 were, for many years, only available here via gray market importers. All through the Malaise Era, we were officially saddled with low-compression smog motor 450SL and 380SL cars officially, and if you saw a 500SL swanning about at the local country club, it had entered the country via the back door.

That changed in the '86 model year when the 560SL hit showrooms. The top of the line Mercedes two-seater (technically a 2+2 but the rear "seats" were vestigial) now boasted a 338 cubic inch SOHC fuel injected V-8 with a 9.0:1 compression ratio rated at 227 SAE net horsepower at a zingy 5,200 rpm.

1989 was the final year for the R107, capping an eighteen year long run, and Car and Driver put one of those last 560SL Benzes through its paces, recording a 7.1 second zero to sixty time and a 15.6 second quarter at 90 mph. The big V-8 pulled all the way to 136 on the top end, too. The car circled the skidpad at 0.78 g's and stopped from seventy in 178 feet, which figures weren't too shabby considering it weighed in just shy of 3,700 pounds.

Even in 1986 terms they were big bucks, of course. Price as tested was $65,780, or more than $167,000 in current 2024 dollars.

The one in the photos was snapped using a Nikon D7100 and 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens in October of 2024.

1987 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL

It feels like the largest Mercedes-Benz sedans have been known as the S-class for my entire life, but not exactly. It wasn't until the W116 full-size Benzes debuted in September of 1972 as a '73 model that the S-class moniker became official. The W116 line soldiered on through the entirety of the Seventies until their W126 replacement was launched for the 1980 model year.

When it was launched in the U.S. as a 1981 model, the W126 S-class sedans were only available with the 3.8L SOHC V-8, producing 215 SAE net horsepower or the 119 horsepower 3.0L inline-five diesel. Grey market imports pressured Benz into filling out the model lineup when the W126 got its mid-cycle refresh for the '87 model year.

The car in the photo is a 420SEL sedan... we'll call it an '87 ...and that means it's an S-class, fuel-injected ("Einspritzung", for "fuel injected"), long-wheelbase car.

The 4.2L SOHC V-8 with its Bosch EFI produced 201 SAE net horsepower in 1987, which was pretty sporty by the standards of the time. Road & Track put an '87 420SEL through its paces and the 4.2L V-8 managed to shove the 3900-pound sedan to sixty in 8.7 seconds and through the quarter in 16.7 at 86 mph.

This was a pretty deluxe ride for the day. The as-tested price of R&T's 1987 420SEL was $57,500, the equivalent of just short of $160,000 in 2024 monetary terms.

This one was photographed in August of 2024 with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

1969 Mercedes-Benz 280SL

You may be cool but you are not rolling-around-Broad-Ripple-in-a-W113-with-a-matching-trilby cool. I couldn't tell if the Becker was tuned to smooth jazz of the University of Indianapolis's WICR-FM, but I wouldn't bet against it.

The Pagoda is such a good looking ride and I'd spotted this tasty 280SL around the 'hood a bunch before he rolled past in August of 2020 and gave me a good shot like this one. About a year and a half later, though, he pulled into the Fresh Market parking lot while I was having lunch. I hollered "Don't let anyone spit in my beer!", grabbed my D700 off the table, and jogged across the street.

The front end is Euro, lacking the bumper override guards and sporting the one-piece headlamp/fog light assemblies that were verboten on U.S.-market automobiles back then. However, the rear-view mirror appears to be a later post-'68 black-bordered safety unit and the rear fenders have the FMVSS-compliant side marker lights.

Could be a gray market car, could be that a later owner just liked the cleaner Euro schnozz. I mean, my '94 Mustang has '96 taillights because they look better and I've had people notice that.

A manual transmission and a speedometer readout in km/h lend support to the gray market theory. Base price on the U.S. import cars was $6,731, which is equivalent to about $57,700 in today's dough.

The 2.8L SOHC fuel-injected inline six was rated at 180 horsepower. Road & Track clocked a '69 test car with a four-speed auto at 9.9 seconds to sixty, by shifting the transmission manually at 6500rpm, and laid down a 17.1 quarter mile at 80 mph through the traps. The W113 was the last really nimble, lithe SL-class, tipping the scales at a bit over 3100 pounds. Later versions got panzer-heavy.

All these photos were snapped with the D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.

1977 Mercedes-Benz 280E

Going into the 1970s, the styling of Mercedes-Benz sedans was beginning to look a little...well, stodgy and dated would be a charitable way to describe it.

Detroit had been rocking a slick fuselage look since the mid/late-Sixties while the W114 and W108 Benzes had prominent fenders and grilles and stacked headlamps and were starting to become more visually reminiscent of Checker cabs than the well-engineered Teutonic sleds they actually were.

The first winds of change came with the R107 SL-class convertibles and were immediately followed by the W116 S-class sedans and coupes.

The new styling, with its modern blended fenders and more aero front end featuring horizontally-arrayed lighting and only a vestigial chrome grille surround as a nod to the radiator shells of the past, trickled down to the smaller W123 in 1976.

Back in the early Seventies the U.S. government was still saving us from the dangers of headlamps that weren't uncovered, round sealed beams, so the tidy aero look of the German original was disrupted on the American-market cars. In 1980 the inner fog lamps got amber lenses, so this Light Ivory 280E sedan is a '77-'79 model.

Powered by a 142 horsepower 2.8L version of the Mercedes M110 DOHC 12V inline-six, performance was typical Malaise Era sedan. Car and Driver's 1977 280E test car managed a 12.3 second jog to sixty and ambled through the quarter mile in 18.9 seconds at 74.8 mph. Top speed was measured at 107 mph. Acceleration would have been no match for a V8 Cadillac Seville, and the base price of $15,435 (just over eighty grand in 2024 dollars) would have bought you two and a half loaded Ford Granadas, but in terms of build quality there was no longer any comparison between Stuttgart and Detroit. 

This one was photographed in August of 2024 using a Nikon D300S and 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR II zoom lens.

1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D

Here's a 1983-vintage W123 300D still out there racking up miles as a daily driver.

Boasting 87 bhp and a monster 127 lb/ft of stump-pulling torque in their original normally-aspirated form, the later 3.0L Benz inline five-cylinder diesels for the North American market all got turbos for '82, bumping horsepower and torque to 123hp and 181 lb/ft. They'll do 0-60 in the mid teens and top a hundred mph by a few MPH on a slight downhill with a tailwind, but they're harder to kill than a cockroach.

My dad's boss had a 240D of similar vintage, and I once had to drive it to a local service station to get a leaky tire plugged. Now, the 240D had a truly feeble 2.4L normally aspirated diesel putting out only 67 horsepower. They were painfully slow.

Anyway, I realized I was in the wrong lane at a red light and, needing to beat the panel truck next to me across the intersection, started brake-torquing it when I saw the crossing light turn yellow.

The light turned green and I side-stepped the brake pedal with the little diesel clattering away for all it was worth. The panel truck still beat me across the intersection (I'm not a hundred percent sure the driver knew it was a race) and quickly pulled enough of a lead that I got a good look at the trailer full of lawn mowers and the crowd of bemused Mexican dudes peering out of the open back of the truck.

I was so embarrassed by this humiliating defeat that I forgot to bring the receipt for the eight-buck tire repair back with me and got in trouble.

1995 Mercedes-Benz E320

It's a size of car that the British call a "spanner"... no, wait, that's what they call a biscuit. This size car they call "Executive", meaning it's larger than a compact but smaller than a "Luxury Saloon".

In America it's a midsize, and Mercedes has been making them since the Fifties. Nowadays it's referred to as their "E-class", sized between the compact C-class and full-size S-class. It's the equivalent to BMW's 5-series or a Ford Taurus or whatever Chevy's currently calling the Maluminpala.

When the generation shown in the picture debuted back in the mid-'80s, it was just the known in-house as the W124 platform. Back then the letters went on the end of Mercedes model, and the "E" in 320E would have stood for "einspritzmotor", signifying a 3.2 liter fuel-injected car.

For the '94 model year, the letters got moved to the front of the model designation on Benzes*, since referring to a car as having an "einspritzmotor" in 1994 would have been as redundant as referring to it as a "vierräder". So from '94 on, the E320, like the '94-'96 wagon in the picture, was a midsize E-class with a 3.2 liter motor.

In this case, that 3.2L motor was a DOHC inline six putting out 217bhp. The '96 E-class was the last hurrah for the classic M-B straight six, with six cylinder Benzos using V-6 motors until 2017 saw the revival of the inline, with the turbocharged M276.

This one was photographed in January 2024 using a Nikon D700 & 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G lens.

*Causing a great deal of distress for car nerds like me who had actually gone to the trouble of cracking the alphanumeric code on Jerry decklids. Don't get me started on how the numeric designations on Mercedes and BMW models only have the most tangential relationship to engine displacement now.