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.

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.

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.

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.

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.