1984 Mercedes-Benz 280SL

When John bought this 1984 280SL around eight years ago, he already owned and ran a later 300SL.

‘That one is red,’ he says. ‘But a mate of mine saw this one for sale and told us to have a look. As soon as my wife saw the colour through the side door of the garage, she loved it, and it was bought.’

Now retired, John and his wife find themselves with five cars including that red 300SL and a G-wagon - they’re confirmed Mercedes fans. The two SLs live in a tandem garage and John feels it’s finally time to rationalise the fleet, make some space undercover and settle for just one SL.

In the time they’ve had the car, they’ve done only 4000 miles, bringing the total up to around 72,000. This is supported by many old MoTs that show continued but fairly light use since 1992. When John first bought the car, he took it to a Mercedes Club member with a garage business in Pontypridd (the seller hails from Barry in South Wales) and racked up a bill for £3000 taking care of various running repairs and service items to get the car up to standard. He also undersealed it, and is keen to point out that this was to protect a well-preserved, rust-free underside - not to hide anything.

‘I have a pit in the garage and I’ve re-sealed some areas over the years, when necessary. I’ve done the same to my other Mercedes,’ says John.

More recent work has included localised touch-ups by a professional paint shop, a new battery, new brake calipers and a new basket, filter and gasket for the automatic transmission when a small leak was sorted out.

What we have, then, is an unusually original car with a strong history and a minimal mileage for any Mercedes of this era. Always garaged and looked after, this six-cylinder example is ready to enjoy without the V8 fuel bills and with a factory hard-top for year-round motoring.

This elegant Mercedes SL presents very well - they’re not cars that suit a ‘shabby chic’ approach to motoring, so you definitely want to start with a smart one. That said, it has a few imperfections if you know where to look: the bottom edge of the nearside front wing has some small bubbles in the paint and there’s a ding in the panel that covers the folded convertible roof.

And that’s pretty much it. The brightwork is nice, the glass is good, the wheels are in excellent shape and are shod with good quality though non-matching tyres; a Uniroyal Rain Expert and three Goodyear Eagles.

Those prominent indicator lenses often take a bashing on SLs, these are in good shape apart from some cracking to the offside rear lens. The bumpers themselves, complex arrangements of chrome pieces, rubber strips and hidden support beams, tend to rot from the inside out and the adjacent valances are vulnerable too. We couldn’t spot any worries at either end.

The black MB-Tex interior looks tremendous with the dark woodgrain on the dash and centre console. It’s all in fine original condition, with no splits or lifts to the veneer and only a tiny tear in the dash top on the edge of one windscreen vent. There are back seats (not the case for every R107 SL) with fixed lap-belts fitted, though you’d struggle to find a passenger small enough to get comfortable.

The floors are dry - that’s under the carpets as well as the carpets themselves - and the doors cards and rubbers are all in excellent nick, even the sill-top rubbers in the door apertures. There’s a radio-cassette player that will delight fans of small square buttons, and it’s just waiting for a copy of Now That’s What I Call Music 2 for the full 1984 time-warp effect.

The hood has recently been replaced with a "very good used one from another SL" and it’s perfectly serviceable. 

Speaking of which, the hard top is in very good condition with good seals and undamaged brightwork. It is in fact one of the easiest to fit and remove SL hard tops we’ve come across - John says it needs care to fit it precisely on its five brackets or else you risk small leaks in heavy weather. 

The floor, sills, jacking points and subframe all seem perfectly solid in their coat of underseal. Even more importantly, water poured liberally over the screen and scuttle runs out quickly through drains behind the front wheels - For those unaware of this SL-specific test, the cars are vulnerable to corrosion in the bulkhead. Sill drains get blocked, water gathers under the heater blower and rots out the steel, getting into the front footwells where it does more damage. It’s an expensive repair because of the amount of dismantling required to get to the problem.

The boot is also bone-dry and free of any hint of corrosion. Perished boot rubber and failed lamp seals can let water in, but not with this example. The fourth Goodyear Eagle rests in the spare wheel well on another good alloy wheel, with a first aid bag and wheel brace in the adjacent compartment.

The engine bay is quite busy with all the piping and wiring for the Bosch fuel injection and electronic ignition, and while it’s not concours-prepared under here, there are no leaks from the handsome alloy cam cover, brake master cylinder or power steering pump. The bonnet insulation is smart and intact, no doubt adding to the car’s quiet and silky progress.  

We have MoT certificates going back to 1991 when it had covered 42,000 miles, allowing you to track the car’s use since then quite accurately. There’s a service book showing regular, on-time service work from a variety of independent specialists and a good sheaf of bills from John’s ownership, starting with the £3000 investment in future ownership that he made shortly after buying it.

The MoT expires on 5th January 2021 so the next owner will only have a few years to wait before the car becomes both MoT and tax exempt (if the current rules on Historic Vehicle status are maintained). Is 1984 now that far into history? Makes us feel old…  UPDATE: This car has been relisted after the seller has replaced the hood and replaced the three rear under bumper valance panels.  See top photographs taken by the seller of this work.

There are always lots of Mercedes R107 SLs for sale – that such a high proportion of those sold new in the UK have survived, ensures supply is no problem. It says a lot that values have risen steadily from where we were ten years ago; they must be more popular than ever. So why choose this one?

To us, it has a fine combination of advantages: it’s a proper-looking thing in a great colour combination that suits the model down to the ground, and it has the earlier wheels and trim that gives it more classic appeal than the later galvanized cars. But it’s not one of the Seventies rot-boxes and a charmed life lived mostly in a garage seems to have helped it dodge the tinworm almost entirely, which we expect to sell for between £16,500 - £25,000.

The engine choice is a personal decision, but when you’ve driven an R107 you start to understand what they’re about. They are not cars that inspire you to slither round corners sideways in a cloud of tyre smoke, nor to beat boy-racers away from the lights. They’re for short, pleasurable cruises on sunny days or long holidays that mix motorway miles with sweeping scenic roads. And the 280 manages all of that just as well as a 500SL, but without the 16mpg penalty.

This one starts, steers and stops just like an SL should - no fuss, no drama, no excessive noise (we should know, we have had this car in for inspection before it returned to its home). There’s functional air conditioning for blazing days in the South of France and the immaculate hard-top can turn it into a warm, dry coupé in the north of Scotland. 

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with the seller in South Wales; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

This vehicle is not with us at The Market’s HQ, which means we have had to rely on the owner’s description of it, in conjunction with the photographs you see here, to compile the listing.

With this in mind, we would encourage potential bidders to contact the owner themselves and arrange to view the car in person, or to arrange a dedicated video call in which they can view the car virtually and ask questions.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Footman James for classic car insurance Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car and an array of regional providers for transporting it.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Also, localised paint repairs are common with collectable and classic cars and if they have been professionally carried out then they may be impossible to detect, even if we see the car in person. So, unless we state otherwise, please assume that any vehicle could have had remedial bodywork at some point in its life.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.

Please note that this is sold as seen and that, as is normal for used goods bought at auction, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. See our FAQs for more info, and feel free to inspect any vehicle as much as you wish.