Background
300 SL is a very special moniker to anyone with any interest in Mercedes, or indeed general motoring history. And while this isn’t the most famous car to ever wear that fabled badge, it can trace its roots directly to it.
After the end of Second World War, Mercedes along with the rest of the German car industry, was in tatters. The company barely existed and the market for its cars was very limited. But even in those circumstances maverick engineers from Stuttgart knew that racing was the way to attract buyers and present the company’s considerable know-how in the best possible light. So, in the early 1950s, the W198 300 SL was born.
It was a pure racing car with highly tuned and fuel-injected 3-litre straight six engine, and a host of advanced technical features never seen before on any racing or road going vehicle. As expected, it was very successful on race tracks and in SLR form in famous races such as the Targa Florio, Mille Miglia and Le Mans 24 Hours. Mercedes didn’t plan a production model, but Max Hoffman, the Mercedes importer for the USA, was very persistent and insisted the car could be a sales hit if offered as a road going version. The company was reluctant, but in 1954 it introduced the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing.
The Pagoda SLs of the 1960s replaced the fabled Gullwing and in 1971 and stayed in production for an incredible 18 years, starting with the original iron block V8 powered 350 SL.
Yet incredibly, the R 107 Mercedes SL convertible very nearly never came about at all. European car makers were convinced the Americans were about to ban soft tops, so the new Merc would be a fixed head coupé. Thankfully though, the Americans saw sense and Mercedes followed suit, and in April 1971 the new convertible hit the road as the Mercedes-Benz 350 SL.
For the first time in the history of the model a V8 power plant did duty under the long bonnet, although the purists bemoaned the lack of a traditional straight six engine. Besides elegance and quality the body radiated safety, since the crash behaviour of the two-seater was way ahead of its time.
In 1974 sporting Mercedes enthusiasts got their straight six, when the 280 SL was launched. And in 1985 this engine was enlarged to 3-litres, and the car renamed the 300 SL. The Bosch K-Jet mechanical fuel injection gained electronic control making it more responsive and efficient, while reducing tail pipe emissions at the same time.
At the Geneva Motor Show in March 1980 Mercedes unveiled an updated SL and SLC. The previous three-speed automatic transmission was replaced with a four-speed version.
Famous early R107 owners in period included such diverse characters as Bruce Lee and Donna Summer. As the SL’s star was further ascending in the 1980s Madonna was seen driving one, as was former US president Richard Nixon’s speech writer Ben Stein.
Production of the R 107 series ended in August 1989, more than 18 years after the launch of the 350 SL. The car set an internal record that will probably never be broken: in the entire history of Mercedes no other passenger car series has ever been produced over such a long period, with the exception of the G-Class. R 107 sales were still strong even as Mercedes moved to replace it.
