Tag: R129

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1998 Mercedes-Benz SL320

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All of a sudden we are in the middle of October and soon little Spider-Mans with coats on will be banging on your door wondering where the free candy is at. That means convertible season is all but over for most of America. That is, like my father used to yell at me for, unless you are one of those crazy people who puts the top down and blasts the heat which in turn is like trying to heat the whole neighborhood. The other scenario is of course if you live somewhere that doesn’t get snow then go ahead and enjoy your top down weather until the turkey is in the oven. That brings me to today’s car, a 1998 Mercedes-Benz SL320.

The SL320 and the pre-facelift 300SL have always stood deep in the shadow of big brothers V8 and V12 R129s and rightfully so. They are were just powerful enough that the car wasn’t a total dog, and usually they were low on standard features. Mercedes figured this out after eight long years with the inline-six SL and finally killed it off in the US after the 1998 model year. This leaves this example in Greenwich, Connecticut, a place where a four garage costs nearly $600,000, in rare company. The even better part about this car is that it had a pile of repairs and maintenance just competed. The thing is, is the price worthy of the little brother SL?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 Mercedes-Benz SL320 on eBay

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2000 Mercedes-Benz SL600

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For as many crazy colors as Porsche produces, Mercedes-Benz will once in awhile surprise you with something that you wouldn’t expect. I say “once in awhile” meaning almost never, because at the end of the day these are very serious Germans who make cars in very serious colors like silver, black, and everyone’s favorite, beige. However, today we have color that is quite wonderful. This 2000 SL600 up for sale in The Netherlands is finished in Aquamarine Blue Metallic with a navy blue top and of course a tan interior, because they wouldn’t want to go off the deep end or anything. It has just a hair of 26,000 miles and just like everyone else for sale at this dealer, is nearly flawless. However, that usually comes with a higher price tag and this one is up there. Way up there.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2000 Mercedes-Benz SL600 on Auto Leitner

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2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrow with 4,600 miles

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As much as I love cars with an insane amount of miles on them, finding older cars with just a handful of miles can be just as fun. This 2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrow checks in from California with just 4,600 miles on the odometer and the classic story of “bought it for the wife, she didn’t drive it”. The last Silver Arrow I looked was a SL600 with just 5,400 miles that carried a truly insane price tag of over $100,000. This SL500 actually looks like a brand new car and the seller states that all the service was done on a regular basis regardless of mileage or use. Thankfully, this car isn’t six figures like the SL600, but it still is going to set you back a boat load more than what a Silver Arrow with around 100,000 miles will run you. Are you in?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrow on eBay

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Roll the Dice: 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500

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I must be getting old, because it seems like every year that passes my tolerance for “project cars” gets smaller and smaller. When I had a bunch of free time, I had no problem messing around for countless hours on one of my cars. Now? Get this job finished as fast as possible and be done with it. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my cars, but they wear my patience thin sometimes. This doesn’t mean I still don’t browse for cheap cars constantly and run across some that might not take all that much to have a decent example for way less than market value. Today’s car, a 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500 up for sale in California, might be that. Looking at the price, I thought it was going to be a total basket case that didn’t run or looked like a nice family of mongooses took up residence in the interior. Much to my surprise, that isn’t the case and this car actually has some extra goodies on it as well.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500 on eBay

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1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL

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Continuing on my quest to bring you odd color combinations, I present a 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL painted in Impala Brown Metallic with a dark brown top. I’m trying to imagine someone who would walk onto a Mercedes dealer lot in 1991, find the row of R129s, look at all the colors that were offered and say, ”Yes. The brown one. Here is $90,000”. I understand not trying not to stick out or not wanting something flashy, but you shouldn’t be buying a very expensive convertible in the first place if you wanted to blend in with the earth. Yet, someone out there wanted a SL in this color and now they still remain in the garages of retirees to take out for a drive on a nice day. This example up for sale outside of Philadelphia seems to be exactly that. Owned by the same person for the past 18 years but now ready for a new home. Thing is, you aren’t getting a deal on the drab color. At least not this one.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL on eBay

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2000 Mercedes-Benz SL320 Mille Miglia

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Back in the 1990s, Mercedes-Benz really started hitting their stride with producing a bunch of special editions that were all made up whenever they felt they need. Most of the time they just threw whatever they had in the parts bin on the cars when it came to paint colors, wheels, interior trim and then would finish it off by calling up their graphic designers to whip up a unique logo to stick around the car. Today’s car, a 2000 SL320 Mille Miglia, is exactly that.

Back in 1995, Mercedes actually launched a Millie Miglia edition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Stirling Moss’s and Dennis Jenkinson’s win of the 1955 Mille Miglia road race. A nice gesture for sure, but I’m sure this decision was highly influenced, if not totally, by getting ready to launch a major facelift in 1996 for the R129 and they wanted to move all the old stock out. Offered on the SL280, SL320, and SL500, it was nothing more than some red inserts on the leather seats, carbon fiber trim with some red weave in it and some leftover EVO 2 wheels from, you guessed it, the parts bin. Then in 2000, Mercedes made another Mille Miglia edition, but just made 12 cars. Why 12 cars? Well, that is how many they needed to usher around VIPs at the Rally 1000 Miglia in Italy. In 2001, the final year of the R129, they again made 13 cars all based off the SL600. So what is unique about these cars? Well, it is basically a Silver Arrow with some badges on the outside and a little sticker on the ashtray door. That’s it. Lean manufacturing must be big at Mercedes.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2000 Mercedes-Benz SL320 Mille Miglia at Mercedes-Benz Classic

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1990 Mercedes-Benz 500SL 6.0 AMG

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I promise that this will be the last Mercedes-Benz R129 for a while. It’s just that I ran across this car and if you look at the title, you know it is something special. This is a 1990 500SL 6.0 AMG with just under 22,000 miles. The backstory on this car is that it was originally commissioned by the Jordanian Royal Family in 1990 but for whatever reason never made it there and ended up in Japan. This car was built as a normal 500SL before being transported to AMG’s facilities in Affalterbach for the full conversion. The biggest change to the car was of course the M119 being converted to a 6 liter which increased power to 380hp and 428ft-lb of torque. Those are respectable numbers even for today, never mind in 1990. Now it is up for sale in San Diego and ready for a new home.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1990 Mercedes-Benz 500SL 6.0 AMG at Symbolic International

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1997 Mercedes-Benz SL60 AMG

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I know everyone might be getting just a little sick of all the silver R129 Mercedes-Benz models I’ve been covering as of late, but I promise this one is worth it. This is a 1997 Mercedes-Benz SL60 AMG up for sale just outside of London. The backstory on the SL60 AMG is a little murky but I’m going to try to explain it the best I can. These cars were officially sold through Mercedes as a SL60 from 1993 to 1998, meaning when you run the VIN it comes back as a SL60 and not just as SL500s that were converted after the fact like we see a lot of times. There wasn’t much fanfare or marketing for these; they made somewhere between 1000 and 1500 with all of them being sold anywhere but North America.

The modifications are what you might have guessed: the 5.0 liter M119 converted to a 6.0 liter that made a conservative 381 horsepower. The rest of the stuff depended on the year and what the AMG factory felt like putting in the car. I don’t have any explanation as to why some cars were sold with Xenon and some weren’t. The same went with the interior changes as some cars got AMG gauge clusters while some didn’t and some interiors were crazy colors but others were just standard R129 interiors from that year. I believe that all the cars, except the very early ones, received the two-piece AMG wheels in the staggered setup. Today’s car is one of the few right hand drive examples that were built and honestly priced pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of things.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Mercedes-Benz SL60 AMG on eBay

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2002 Mercedes-Benz SL600 Silver Arrow with 5,400 Miles

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The past few weeks I’ve come across a few Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrows that have garnered some attention. This car in Florida ended up selling for $16,900 and this car in Atlanta looks like it is still for sale. Today, I came across one of the 100 SL600 Silver Arrows that were made for the US market. The SL600s differed from the SL500s in that they didn’t receive the two-tone white interior but it did get the very pricey panoramic glass hardtop as standard. You also got a cool metal briefcase with some goodies inside of it that matches the car. Of course, you paid for all that at nearly $140,000 in 2002. Today, I have found one of these SL600 Silver Arrows for sale in Texas with just 5,400 miles. The price? Well, if we are on planet earth, this price is somewhere on Neptune. Seriously, I spit water on monitor when I saw this number and I wasn’t even drinking anything at the time. It is just that crazy.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2002 Mercedes-Benz SL600 Silver Arrow at CarGurus

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2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrow

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Last week on Christmas day I looked at a 2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrow that had a little bit of a mixed reaction. Even though it had only 70,000 miles and spent the majority of its life in Florida, the wood on the center console had some odd stuff going on with it. That is often the one minus of cars in the regions of no snow: you have to deal with the heat, along with the sun, that can wreak havoc on wood and leather. For the $17,000 asking price, you could probably find a better car or at least a better deal if you planned on driving it regularly. Today, I might have found that better deal. This Silver Arrow up for sale Atlanta, Georgia has 40,000 more miles but of course has some flaws to go along with those miles. The good news is the price is much cheaper than $17,000. How cheap?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2002 Mercedes-Benz SL500 Silver Arrow on eBay

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