Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster (107 Series)

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Looking more handsome with every passing year, the W107 series Mercedes-Benz SL was built at a time when the Stuttgart firm still had a reputation for building the best engineered cars in the world.

To this day, no car door closes with a more reassuring ‘thunk’ than a Mercedes SL, and everything about the car contrives to make even a nuclear bunker feel a bit flimsy. Fast, comfortable and discreetly understated, the SL has a matchless ability to munch up the miles for year after year without ever seeming to falter. No wonder it stayed in production fundamentally unaltered from 1971 until 1989 – the longest production run of any Mercedes to date.

The cars came in a wide range of engine sizes using both straight-six and V8 engines, but one of the best was undoubtedly the 3-litre six that appeared in 1985. Employing a new KE Jetronic fuel injection system linked to a modern engine management computer, it not only achieved better fuel economy than the 280 it replaced but more power as well. It also had the improved 4-speed auto transmission that replaced the earlier 3-speed unit.

The official figures were 185bhp and 188lb/ft of torque, sufficient to propel the car to 60mph in just 9.6 seconds on its way to a top speed of 130mph. Almost as quick as the larger V8 models, it was not only more economical but also handled better thanks to improved weight distribution.

First registered in November 1988, this particular 300SL has covered only 73,800 miles from new and comes with a good service history comprising no fewer than 16 stamps to 58,371 miles in July 2005, all bar the first at the same garage, Philip Welch Specialist Cars of York. The vendor has owned the car for the last 22 years, always keeping it garaged and using it in fine weather only. It has continued to be well maintained at a local garage owned by his nephew since 2005 but there are no further service stamps or invoices to cover this period.

Presented in fashionable white with a black-and-white check-cloth interior and sports front seats, the car appears to be in very good order throughout with a particulary well-presented engine bay and evidence of waxoil treatment in the past. It is also said to drive as well as it looks with an MOT until August 2016, although the vendor states that the temperature gauge has an intermittent fault which sometimes causes the needle to jump from normal to hot for no apparent reason, although it just as quickly returns to normal. It comes with all its original handbooks in the original wallet, the levers to remove the hard top and two sets of keys.

A superior example in all respects and from reassuringly long-term ownership, this is an unusually smart example of what many consider to be the best model in the W107 range and looks excellent value at the modest guide price suggested.