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I’m not exactly breaking any news here, but if you want an R129 Mercedes-Benz 600SL/SL600 at somewhat of a reasonable price, don’t sit around too much longer. The cream of the crop is already selling for a ton of money, and the very nice examples have quickly risen to a level where you really have to love these cars to spend the amount of money they are demanding. Thankfully there still are some not-so expensive ones out there on the market, but I think it is very clearly becoming a “you get what you pay” situation on them. Today’s example, a 2000 SL600 up for sale outside of Boston, sure seems to be one of those cases.
The jump from the W124 Mercedes-Benz E-Class to the next generation W210 was a large one. Gone was the slab sided bodies and square headlines and in was a much more soft design with quad round headlights. Inside, the W210 still behaved like a Mercedes from years past, but they made sure to carry over that roundness and a whole bunch of more plastic. Under the hood, a traditional V6 took the place of the trusty inline-six midway through the model run of the E320, and a workhorse it was. Today example, a 2000 E320 up for sale in Florida, is a great example of that. Why? Well, it has almost 300,000 miles on the odometer.
I harp a lot about the W220 Mercedes-Benz S-Class and how it might be the most disappointing flagship the team Stuttgart has ever launched. It was the year 2000 and this car fit in quite well for the time, just like oversized baggy suits and trucker hats. Well, all those were donated to the Goodwill during spring cleaning 2005, but the early W220s lived on and still roam the earth to this date. A lot of these are now on their 12th owner and look like this, but some of these survived, and this is what we have today.
This 2000 is finished in Bordeaux Red Metallic, which is not to be confused with Titanite Red Metallic from a few weeks ago, and inside with find a Java leather interior. It is quintessential early-W220 with the blobby 17″ wheels to match the body. Inside, much of the same with a two-tone dash and that very tiny COMAND navigation system that was a slight upgrade from the maps in The Legend of Zelda. So if no one wants it, is it actually worth anything? Seems to be.
In terms of the R129 Mercedes-Benz, it doesn’t get better than this. This is the SL73 AMG. Just 85 were made and they are the only SL fitted with M297 V12, which is a variant of the M120 that was tuned by AMG. This is the same 7.3 V12 that powered the early Zonda cars and, of course, the CLK GTR Straßenversion. It is basically the cream of the crop when it comes to the naturally aspirated Mercedes V12 engines and threw down an impressive output of 561 horsepower and 575 lb-ft of torque. Even looking at it is worth the price of admission. But to have the engine and all the car wrapped around it? Bring a very large check.
The Mercedes-Benz W202 C-Class has very little notoriety outside of the C36 AMG and C43 AMG. Maybe I’m missing something, but there seems to be no desire for a 1994 C220. It doesn’t surprise me as the W202 was an interesting blend of the old school “the best or nothing†and the world entering the booming 1990s where the product line expanded rapidly and the bean counters starting have more say at the table. When you sit in and drive a W202, you do have some feeling of that classic Mercedes magic, but some of stuff you can clearly see they cheaped out on. Even compared to 190E, these felt a little more “plasticy,” but tried their best to still convince you they really went all out with the resources and development of the model. So now that the newest W202 is over 20-year-old, will these non-AMG cars ever have any of demand or collectability? Don’t bet on it.
