1995 Mercedes-Benz SL500

First registered on the 1st of April 1995, this lovely example is presented in Brilliant Silver Metallic with a Mushroom leather interior. Fitted with air conditioning along with heated, electrically adjustable leather seats and electric windows, its dark blue fabric hood is supplemented by a factory hardtop.

With just three previous keepers on the V5, the car’s second owner bought the SL from a Mercedes-Benz dealer in 2009, which means the first owner enjoyed it for 14 years after buying it through the German firm’s Diplomatic and Tourist Sales department.

Still having covered only around 32,000 miles, it has been in the care of the vendor, a serial classic car collector and Mercedes enthusiast, for the past six months. With a superb history, he tells us that it drives “like new”, and is only for sale – along with his E55 AMG, which will be up for auction with us shortly – to help fund a house purchase.

The coachwork is finished in Brilliant Silver Metallic, and it looks stunning after having had £1200 spent on tidying up the paintwork. The new paint has been blended very well indeed, so well in fact that we can’t see where the old ends and the new begins.

The panel alignment is as good as it was when it left the factory and the doors all open and close with an authoritative ‘clunk’. The headlamp wipers work as they should, and while there’s no real chromework to mention, the glass, light lenses and badges are all virtually as they were when they were new.

The front and rear bumpers are, bar a small mark on the nearside front bumper and one on the rear, fresh and free of the sort of car-park scrapes that are all but inevitable these days as people move to PCP-financed monstrosities they love with the same passion they have for their dishwashers.

The tyres are matching Dunlop SP Sport 2000s (even the spare…) and the 16-inch OE alloy wheels are very good, having been recently refurbished at a cost of £400.

As we will never tyre of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but do give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

The folding fabric roof is in a very good condition. It fits well and is more weathertight than many of the SL’s contemporaries; very well-engineered and in good order, it is supplemented with a factory hardtop for winter use.

The fabric roof pops up and down at the touch of a button, and does so smoothly and quickly, without the slightest hesitation.

As you’d expect, it does have a couple of very light scratches here and there, and the odd small stonechip on the front, but it’s all minor stuff and we’d leave it well alone as overall it looks magnificent.

The Mushroom interior, which lends much lighter and more airy feel to the car that a darker colour would, is all in incredible condition. With extensive leather throughout and carpeting that extends up and across the wide transmission tunnel and across the lower dashboard, this example has a premium feel to it that is missing from some of the lesser models.

That it is in such a good condition helps and the wooden veneer, which is so often cracked and peeling, is in fine fettle and in need of nothing. The inner headlining is clean and taut, the carpets are fresh and deep, and the door cards are in great shape.

It’s the same story with the leather seats, which are only very gently creased on the driver’s side and support the car’s ultra-low mileage. They also adjust as they should, and even the seat heaters work, which would be a blessing for anyone willing to use one in the winter with the roof down and snow swirling around their heads. (This is, for those who’ve never tried it, even more fun than it sounds.)

The rear seats look like they have never been sat on, with the nice to have wind deflector sitting atop, and the air-conditioning blows ice-cold after having been recently recharged. In fact, everything we’ve tested works just as it should. But then that’s Mercedes-Benz engineering - and a series of unusually diligent owners – for you.

The boot contains the original gauge cluster, which was calibrated in kilometers-per-hour. As we mentioned in the introduction, this is a genuine UK-spec, right-hand-drive model that was purchased originally though Mercedes-Benz’s Diplomatic and Tourist department.

The new speedometer is calibrated in miles-per-hour and reflects the mileage covered since being changed. There is an invoice from Mercedes-Benz of Canterbury for the exchange, along with a note from the then-owner clarifying the mileage.

The boot is clean and home to the pristine spare wheel and new Dunlop tyre, as well as the standard warning triangle. That the car’s owner has gone to the expense of fitting a new tyre to a spare wheel that has never been used goes to the heart of this car’s meticulous service and maintenance history.

As does the fact that all of the locks on the cubbyholes and glovebox still operate as they should. Connected via a complex vacuum system to the car’s central locking, they all still lock remotely, something the owner tells us he’s never come across before on a secondhand car.

This means that problems are few and seem to be restricted to a faulty Blaupunkt radio cassette player, which just hisses and crackles. Still, even the owner describes it as “a bit gaudy”, so at least you’ll have an opportunity to find something suitably period and retro to put in its place. (•hint• there’s a manual for a Blaupunkt London RDM104 in the owner’s wallet…)

Other than that, the worst we can say about the interior is that the ruffled and ruched leather on the door cards is very of-the-period. But then of-the-period is why we love classic cars, isn’t it?

The owner tells us that he’s had a couple of these and says that this one is the best he’s ever driven, saying that it feels “really, really tight with not a squeak or a rattle.” He goes on to tell us that “all the bits work, even the pneumatic locking door bins - and I don't think the spare has ever been out of the boot!”

As you can see and hear in the video, the SL starts promptly and quickly settles into an even tickover. It revs well, and while the exhaust note might lack the pops and crackles we’re used to hearing being emitted from modern sportscars, the noise it does make is au naturel and all the better for having been designed with adults in mind, rather than pre-pubescent boys looking to show off.

The engine bay is neat and clean and presents well, even if it is a little dusty in places. While you’re under there, the underbonnet soundproofing could do with renewing as it is perished and peeling away. Only a cosmetic problem, it’s very much a nice-to-do job rather than an essential one.

The underside looks to be utterly solid and needs no work whatsoever bar a decent pressure wash every now and then to keep it clean and free of rust. In fact, it’s so original under there that the springs still wear their paint markings, and the dampers still have the factory stickers on them.

The SL’s MOT certificate expires in March 2021, and the online MOT history shows nothing of concern whatsoever. In fact, it gained its ticket this year with no advisories, and the one the year before only commented on the parking brake being near the top of its travel.

The car comes with a number of expired MOT certificates plus a sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the recent work that has been done to it. It also comes with a very well stamped maintenance booklet, the original owner’s handbook and the OE storage wallet with the usual bumf including a sheet confirming its original factory specification.

The service history booklet shows that the pre-delivery inspection was carried out by Mercedes-Benz Diplomatic and Tourist Sales in Piccadilly; despite being righthand drive, the car had a speedometer that was calibrated in kilometers.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to the very highest standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

NB. We know that many of you will be limiting your social exposure over the coming days and weeks, so if you’d rather not come to see the car in person, please give us a call and we can shoot a personal video of the car honing in on any areas you’d like us to concentrate on.

Or, even better, why not contact us with your mobile number and we can set up a WhatsApp video call? You get to direct us in real-time, giving you a virtual personal viewing experience while maintaining the lockdown. We like to call it ‘The Market’s 2020 Vision’…

The R129 is as pretty as it is tough - and that’s worth something in today’s troubled times; apocalypse-ready vehicles don’t have to be finished in camouflage green and fitted with four-wheel-drive because only two things will survive in a post-nuclear world: cockroaches and Mercedes-Benz cars of the eighties and nineties.

But, you need to buy the right one and few fit the bill better than this. With an amazing service history, minimal miles on the clock, and the five-litre, V8 engine it also has enough toys to keep you occupied while you’re waiting to pass through the police and army roadblocks we can all look forward to…

It’ll be fairly cheap, too. We think this one, even in this condition and with a perfect service history, will only sell for between £11,000 and £14,000 – and the reserve price is so modest that it represents less than the owner has invested in it.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; 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’.

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 AnyVan 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.

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.