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I’m officially declaring that spring is in the air. We are into mid-March now and soon the weather will turn for the better. That means car season is here and convertible season is soon to follow. Today, I wanted to look at one of my old favorites that always bring joy to me no matter the engine size or the condition – the W113 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class. I think these are one of the most classic Mercedes models in terms of package and usability of them even over 50 years later. I am not alone in this thinking therefore prices are not cheap. However, this 1968 280SL up for sale in Virginia comes in at a somewhat reasonable price and I’m not sure why.
It doesn’t get more quintessential classic Mercedes-Benz sedan than the W108 and W109 chassis. The vertical grille matched with the vertical headlights, that is all grafted onto a body of simple and square contours. None of the proportions are too big or too small, and all the angles are consistent. There is nothing offensive on this car to be found. Thankfully, the quality is as good as the looks. Stay on top of things, and they are built to last generations. Today’s car, a 1970 280SE up for sale in Switzerland, is a perfect example of that. It has never been restored and hasn’t been locked away in a bubble, just used as needed and meticulously looked after. Even better, it has a nice little ownership story of the diplomatic variety.
Around five years ago the values of the W113 Mercedes-Benz Padoga spiked pretty hard and kept climbing year after year. I totally get it because these roadsters are as classic as it gets and will never go out of style. The price for a really nice 280SL hovers around that $100,000 mark and can reach almost $260,000 for a perfect example while the lesser 230SL and 250SL can be had for a much more reasonable $50,000 if you so chose. This leads me to today’s car, a 1970 280SL up for sale in New Hampshire. This Pagoda is equipped not only with the rare factory air conditioning, but a 4-speed manual transmission. While all that is nice, why I really wanted to look at this 280SL is the price. No, it is not extremely high, but actually quite the opposite.
If I had a dollar for every time I see the terms ”like-new”, ”showroom condition” or even worse, ”restored” when looking at a used car ad, I’d have a lot more cars. The overwhelming majority of the time these terms don’t apply to the car listed for sale and are just used by overzealous sellers just trying to drum up interest. I fight every urge to send them a sarcastic message saying that I didn’t know Mercedes sold new cars on the showroom floor with cracked dashes and stains on the carpets, but I resist. Either way, it ruins the term in my eyes because of how loosely it gets tossed around. Today, one of those cars actually deserves all those marketing terms because it is actually true. This 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SL for sale in Texas was restored, is like-new and is certainly in showroom condition. However, if you want to own this car, I hope your net worth is in seven-figures. It is that expensive.
Normally most of the Mercedes-Benz W108/W109 cars I look are at the M100-powered 6.3s and for good reason, they are really cool cars and the market on them is as hot as it has even been for them. Luckily for most of us, if you want a W108 or W109 and don’t want to pay a minimum of $35,000 just to have a seat at the table, you have some options. Today, we have one of those options. This 1971 280SE for sale in California is painted in the rare Arabian Grey and believe or not, has nearly 150,000 miles on it.
