Mercedes-Benz 450SLC Coupe

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

Launched in 1972, the 450SLC was a big bruiser of a car in the finest Mercedes tradition. It was in its element charging down the fast lane of the autobahn scaring the wits out of English tourists by shooting past their weedy Allegros at almost double their maximum speed.

About the only car ever to be adapted from a roadster into a tin-top, it was based on the SL convertible but was stretched a few inches and had better handling thanks to its much stiffer structure. Indeed it proved just how tough it was by its impressive performance in gruelling long distance rallies, including a win on the South America Rally of 1978 and second place on the East Africa Safari.

The 450SLC was powered by a bomb-proof 4.5-litre V8 that produced 225bhp and 278lb/ft of torque and can still more than hold its own in today’s traffic. Fantastically strong and stable at speed, it also made a great endurance racer, as anyone who saw the brutishly handsome AMG ‘Mampe’ 450SLC winning the 1980 Nurburgring Six Hours will testify.

First registered in August 1980, this fine looking SLC has had just four owners from new and has been in the current ownership for 10 years, being bought in 2005 from a Scottish gentleman who had also owned it for 10 years. When acquired by the vendor the car had been in storage since 1997 and had been thoroughly restored by the Scottish owner, many bills on file documenting the extent of the work carried out.

The vendor has continued to maintain the car meticulously, including fitting a reconditioned steering box, new tyres, new shock absorbers, new brake discs, pads and hoses, new cam lifters and oil feeds and new outer sills. Used in the summer months only and always kept garaged, it has covered some 8,500 miles in the last 10 years and is said to have proved totally reliable with everything working as it should apart from the air conditioning and the headlamp washers.

Although the car is currently showing some 68,500 miles, the vendor states that a thick file of bills and old MOTs back to 1991 suggest that it had a speedo change at around 40,000 miles so the true mileage is probably just over 100,000. Currently fitted with later ‘flat face’ alloys, the original Fuchs alloys are also included.

In very smart order throughout and said to drive as a good 450 should with an MOT until December 2015 (and no advisories recorded), this enthusiast-owned bruiser is only reluctantly being sold to make way for a much newer SL and looks stonking value at the modest guide price suggested.

PS: This car was driven some 130 miles to the sale without missing a beat.