The R129 SL was what I consider to be one of the last of the old-school Mercedes-Benzes, besides the infamous, long-lived Geländewagen. Revealed in 1989 after an almost 20 year production run of the previous R107 SL, the R129 brought the Mercedes-Benz roadster concept into the new decade with a host of safety improvements and performance upgrades. At the outset, you could order a 5-speed manual transmission in the six cylinder 300SL, which was the first manual gearbox offered stateside in the SL since the demise of the W113 SL in 1971.
By the end of the production run in 2002, the smaller SLK roadster was now going on six years old and offered the convenience of a folding hardtop, instead of the R129’s removable one. Nostalgia wasn’t lost on the fact that the sun was setting on this SL generation. For its final year, Mercedes introduced the Silver Arrow, which was a trim package available on both the SL500 and SL600. A two tone black and white leather interior, special wheels and turned metal interior accents were included in the package. The majority of the 1,550 cars produced were the V8 version that you see here for sale in California.
Year: 2002
Model: SL500 Silver Arrow
Engine: 5.0 liter V8
Transmission: 5-speed automatic
Mileage: 38,183
Price: $26,995
2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 on Hemmings Motor News
This gorgeous Silver Arrow silver metallic 2002 Mercedes Benz SL500 Silver Arrow Edition roadster has only 38,183 miles. This automatic has a special interior color combination of black and silver leather seats and steering wheel with dark walnut trim, and burnished aluminum gage trim. This SL features Xenon headlights, Bose Premium Sound, CD changer, cassette player, heated seats, dual memory seats, pristine black power soft top, removable hardtop, cruise control, garage door opener, fog lights, ESP, automatic climate control, and special edition 18 inch alloys. This Silver Arrow is in excellent condition, one owner, California vehicle that is CARFAX Buyback Guaranteed.
With R107 SL prices escalating, the R129 is now the natural choice for those wanting an SL on a budget, as they fall squarely in between the classic and modern choices out there. A normal 2002 SL500 can range from around $12,000 and edge close to $20,000. It’s rare that you see these R129s breach $20,000, and the low mileage and Silver Arrow livery certainly have their merits. As is, I’d suspect almost $27,000 is a bit steep for this car; somewhere in the low $20,000 range might be a bit more realistic.
-Paul
It’s a dealer, advertising on Hemmings, so the inflated price should be a foregone conclusion.
Personally, I tend to overlook the R129 generation SL. The R107 is the affordable classic, and the R230 is the more modern (and arguably better looking) performer. You can buy a very nice R230 for the price of this Silver Arrow. So, I guess I don’t see why I’d want to spend the same cash on an swan song appearance package middle child R129?
By the way, when I first heard Mercedes was introducing the Silver Arrow end-of-life edition for the long-in-the-tooth R129 SL, I couldn’t help thinking it was a bit of thinly disguised tongue-in-cheek from their marketing department considering the terminology sometimes used to describe stereotypical R129 buyers.
The asking price is ridiculous. So that’s out of the way…
Some of the specific cosmetic choices of the Silver Arrows definitely fall into the “love it” or “hate it” category with no middle ground. If my memory is correct, the Silver Arrows also came with matching luggage, but I see no mention of these items in the advertisement and it is not shown in any of the pictures. For the asking price, the car ought to come with freshly imported German air in the tires, along with everything else the car was delivered with originally.
I personally like the 129s. They are much more civilized than the 107s and lack the potential technology headaches of the 230s. In my opinion the build quality is better in the 129s as well.