For sale:
1973 Mercedes 450SL
R107 in super original,
survivor, time-warp condition
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With the best Pagodas selling for more than $100,000 it was only a small matter of time before the R107 cars started to move. At the forefront are the very best, original cars or cars restored without regard to cost (rare due to the staggering costs of a proper restoration). A great one will also be less expensive to buy than a poor one will be to restore!
There are various killers of collector cars, let’s discuss them:
RUST
We all know that cars from the U.S. Midwest, Great Briton or
Europe have all nearly rusted into the ground and gone back to their basic
elements by now.
This car has spent its whole life in
California and appears to never even have been driven in rain. Its undercarriage
still carries factory original undercoating. There is absolutely no rust
whatsoever, even at the bottoms of the fenders and the wells in the trunk.
SUN
If rust is the biggest killer in cold or humid climates, at
the other extreme, cars from very warm climates like California tend to have
cracked dashes, crispy weather seals and sun bleached paint. Interiors suffer
the ravages of sun, spilled soft drinks (or the other kind if we are talking of
the “old days”), oversized American gluttonous maximi, friction, beach sand or
sharp objects in the back pocket. Vinyl is kept flexible due to chemical
plasticizing agents blended into the polymer. This is the “new car smell” that
we are familiar with. These agents have various levels of volatility. Bake an
interior in the sun for twenty years and a lot of them disappear. Well they
don’t actually disappear. They tend to coat the inside of the glass with a haze
that you must clean off periodically. When the plasticizers leave the vinyl it
becomes hard, brittle and tends to shrink and crack.
This car has always been garage kept
and the fastidious only owner always had seat covers protecting the original
upholstery. The interior is 100% original except for the seat padding. We
carefully removed the original seat covers, replaced the pads and then put the
original covers back on, photo documenting the whole process. Even the original
rubber weather seals are still present some with a “1973” date stamp.
DEFERRED MAINTENANCE
This is an economic killer. Many interesting cars don’t get
maintained due to the fact of the required servicing costing more than the value
of the car or the cars are owned by people of moderate means who don’t have the
resources maintain them.
We have a stack of service records
for this car from Mercedes-Benz of San Diego but we went even further. I
pretended I was a fussy client with an unlimited budget and told my shop foreman
to go through the car mechanically as if it was his own personal car. $23,000
later there is nothing left to do but drive and enjoy.
MODIFICATIONS
When cars have multiple owners it is very common to find
aftermarket or “incorrect” equipment such as chrome wheel lip moldings, Italian
steering wheels, cheap plastic dash caps and more.
This car has none of that. It
features correct, original equipment such as a Hirschman antenna, Becker stereo,
etc. More remarkable still is that its early Mercedes cruise control unit is
intact.
ORIGINAL PAINT
Of course nearly every single 37 year old Mercedes (or any
car actually) regardless of whether it is from Los Angeles, London or Berlin has
been repainted by now. Rust, crashes, scratches, sand storms, vandals or
freezing and thawing plus good old El Sol have all taken their toll and we want
our precious cars to be pretty, so eventually they all get re-painted. If
extreme care is taken by the paint shop (read a lot of time and money is spent)
a repaint is not a terrible thing. It is just that a car that survives a long
life with its beautiful original paint still intact exists in a whole different
category than a car with even a very expensive re-paint.
This is just such an
original paint example.
THE FINE DETAILS
After nearly 40 years most Mercedes have not escaped some
well intentioned person spray painting or undercoating the wheel wells black in
an effort to "improve it".
This survivor still exhibits its original, correct
body color painted
wheel wells.
In conclusion, how do we
adequately value or describe a car such as this that has escaped without needing
a re-paint? Some use the term "survivor" or "time-warp" original. I’ve used the
term, “holy grail” as my quest for perfect originals is rather like that 2000
year quest for the famous religious icon.
This
car just might be the best, most
original small bumper 450SL on this planet. It is very difficult to put a
value on something like this which is so superior to similar models. I believe
history will show this particular car to be an outstanding investment.
Above is the list of the work we did that was
required to bring this super original, well kept car to Motoring Investments'
standards.
If you were to buy a merely average car, it would take several times this
investment just to get it to the mechanical level of this car -
and it still would not have original paint and interior like on this
time-warp survivor.
(Click on the image to go to the full size version)
"1973" date coded seatbelts
Original Hirschman antenna (now unobtainium)
Original date coded trunk weather seal - hard to
read but it is 25. 7. 73 (July 25, 1973)
View the rocker panel and undercarriage photos!
Click on any of the small photos below to see its large version:
Tail light housings with 1973 date codes | ||
Date coded seat belts | ||
Please notice the correct body color wheel wells. |
Click here to see details of the seat restoration all while maintaining the original seat covers!