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Probably one of the most clichéd cars ever, the R107 was everywhere in the 1970s and 1980s. Probably it is because it lived a long enough life that a child could be conceived in it, then sent off to college and Mercedes-Benz were still selling them on their showroom floors. From Magnum, P.I., to Dallas, to Knight Rider – even Wonder Woman drove one of these. I’m still trying to piece together how she afforded a $32,000 car (over $140,000 in today’s dollars) on a government salary. What that left us with today is a market full of used R107s that are harder to get rid of than free kittens. Go jump on Craiglist and search ‘Mercedes SL’ and you’ll find listing after listing of these parked in front of nice but clearly dated homes with phrases like ”time to let her go” and ”I have the original hardtop too!!” I usually don’t even bother looking at R107 ads anymore but this one caught my eye. The rare color of Cayenne Orange and a sparse 6,600 miles had me curious. So if you aren’t tired enough of seeing R107s for sale, let’s check this 1977 450SL out in North Carolina.
Fast wagons are perhaps one of the most cultish of vehicle genres to date. There are those like me who have disdain for most SUVs and realize there are alternatives to moving your stuff around. As a single person without children, minivans are overkill for my demographic. It was Jeremy Clarkson who was quoted as saying a minivan signals to the world that “I’ve done my breeding. I’ve served my biological purpose, and now I’m waiting to die.” So ruling out a small van, where is one to turn for their hauling needs? How about Mercedes-Benz? Unlike Audi, Mercedes-Benz has not given up on a segment in the US market which it began to popularize decades ago. There are still loyal fans of the five-door variant of the E-class, now on its sixth generation if you count the W123 T-modell which started it all. Luckily, Mercedes-Benz has been kind enough to bring AMG tuned variants to a market with otherwise vanilla tastes when it comes to family cars. Today we’ll look at two very similar looking but different beasts, the E55 AMG and E63 AMG estates, both wearing the same shade of Graphite Gray Metallic for sale for sale from the same dealer outside of Philadelphia.
In the wake of the Brexit vote, the British pound has plummeted against the US dollar. This means that importing a car from Britain has suddenly become a bit more affordable. As a Brit living in America, I feel a bit guilty recommending that you take advantage of my home country’s economic plight to get a good deal on a car. But only a bit. Which brings me to today’s car. The 500SE was a V8 powered, short-wheel base version of the W126 S-class. Made for the European market and never offered in the US, it offered the grunt of a larger engine in the slightly smaller and (in my view) better proportioned chassis. This one is for sale on UK eBay. Not only is it reasonably priced, it’s a LHD car. So no need to worry about the steering wheel being on the wrong side if you choose to bring it over.
The 500E is the pumped up, M5-fighting, super-sedan version of the W124 platform E-class. The product of a Porsche-Mercedes collaboration between 1990 and 1994, these cars were 322 hp monsters capable of 155 MPH on the autobahn. Powered by the 5.0 liter V8 M119 engine, the 500E was externally differentiated from ordinary W124s only by flared fenders, a slightly lowered stance and an innocuous-looking badge at the rear. The 500E was the very definition of a wolf in sheep’s clothing: practical, supremely fast and understated (a cliche, to be sure, but an apt one). I used to scour Craigslist for these cars, in the vain hope that I would come across one being sold for cheap by somebody who didn’t know what they had. Sounds far fetched, I know. But Doug Demuro once found one for half price price at a dealer who mistook it for just another old Benz. Sadly, I think those days are over. The used market has since woken up to these cars and now they’re usually priced anywhere between $10k and $40k depending on condition and miles.
Update 1/24/2018 – nearly a year and a half later, this car is still for sale at a slightly reduced price of $6,999 – getting closer to our valuation.
Another week, another diesel Mercedes-Benz. This one has a little more rarity thanks to fewer features than what we normally see. Manual transmission, manual windows, non-turbo diesel engine, cloth seat inserts but what you do get is European lights and bumpers finished over the wonderfully period-correct Thistle Green. So if you are looking for a bare-bones W123 diesel with a little bit of European flare, then this 300D north of Philadelphia might fit the bill.
