1985 Mercedes-Benz 280SL

With just five previous owners in its 34-year history - the fourth of which owned the car for 23 years between 1996 and 2019 and spent an absolute fortune on maintaining it in the condition you see today – we are delighted to be able to offer this utterly lovely little Signal Red Mercedes-Benz 280SL.

With some of the best bodywork we’ve seen on an SL for a long time and an almost perfect interior, it is running beautifully; the engine bay is a real highlight of the car, which underpins the old engineering adage that if it looks right then it probably is.

Only being sold because it is a bit too small for its 6’ 5” owner to use as regularly as he would like, it was not only driven the 700 miles to his home in France after buying it but his faith in it is such that it was driven 700 miles back to us in the United Kingdom to be entered into this auction, too! .

The Signal Red paintwork really is exceptional for a car of its age. A full respray was carried out in 2011, which set the owner back well over £3,000. The work was clearly done to a high standard because it’s still glossy and even and shines brilliantly after nothing more than a basic valet.

The panel gaps are great, and the flanks are straight and true, which are indicative of caring, cautious owners and a past with few, if any, stories to tell.

The body coloured hardtop is in good condition and seals tightly. The black mohair soft-top and frame are both in good shape and fit well, furling and unfurling easily. The rear plastic window is clear and hasn’t gone milky like so many do as they age.

The extensive chrome trim is good and largely free of oxidation and pitting. This isn’t a surprise because the owner replaced some of it with new OE items, and had a lot of the rest re-chromed only recently. (He also spent £18 on a huge 1kg tub of Autosol…)

The original 14-inch 'Mexican-hat' alloy wheels are in great condition, and wear Uniroyal tyres on the front, and Continentals on the rear; all have good tread. It also had a new set of original Mercedes-Benz mud flaps fitted only recently.

Faults seem to be restricted to a small area of orange peel near the front nearside indicator and a small rust bubble on the front wing by the grille. Though not bad the boot lid has a subtle amount of orange peel, only standing out because the rest of the paintwork is so good. But don’t take our word for it; why not pop along to see us at The Market HQ in Abingdon and take a look for yourself?

The first thing you notice about the interior, apart from its excellent condition, is that it is beige, but that’s okay because it is impeccably presented and installed, and all the better for being such an in-period colour.

The second thing you will notice are the seats, which are impressively well sprung (that’s ‘sprung’…). They’re more sofa than sporting, but they’re supremely comfortable and still in fabulous condition as you can see from the photos.

The third thing you’ll notice is the huge steering wheel, and while the fourth might take a while to appreciate, it is the brilliantly simple and beautifully executed interior that will be the feature you come to appreciate day-after-day, year-after-year.

The adjustment levers for the door mirrors, for example, are direct and so simple in their design as to be captivating. It’s a proper, mechanical lever and so has no electrical contacts to give up the ghost; you’ll still be using it in 50 years while everyone else is scratching around trying to have theirs rebuilt by a teenager with poor social skills but an impressive dexterity with a soldering iron.

Good quality materials were used, too. The door cards are in the same sort of condition as the seats, which is to say they’ve shrugged off the past 34 years and six owners with impressive aplomb. It’s the same story with the carpets and the wooden veneer, both of which are way better than the majority of examples out there and would score a 9/10 for their condition. We wonder if the seats and door cards have been replaced in recent years, they are that good.

The condition has been helped by an owner who isn’t afraid to spend money on keeping it looking good. A replacement centre armrest in 2012 set him back £300, for example, a cost that many would have baulked at paying.

The headlinings of both the black soft-top and the red hard-top are in very good condition, being clean and free of damage, although there are some light watermarks on the inside of the fabric roof.

The boot is clean and neat too, and home to the optional wind deflector, warning triangle, and spare alloy wheel. The car also has a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher.

Problems are pretty much limited to a small area of milkiness in the wooden veneer behind the gear lever, a small crack in the dashboard by the air vent underneath the drivers side front windscreen and a couple of minor blemishes to the right hand side of the drivers seat - only mentioned due to the standard of the rest of the interior.

There is a recent bill for £837 from Simon Light Ltd., the well-known SL expert. The work comprised a full service plus the rectification of some other little mechanical niggles. Other recent work includes a new waterpump in 2016, and a service, including fresh brake fluid, in 2015.

The engine bay is wonderfully clean and nicely presented as you can see from the detailed photographs in the advert. Not concours, but still something that you can be proud to show off to your mates or at the local classic car show. Its condition also supports the fact that its owners have clearly treasured the car over the years, and taken the time to keep it looking, and running, beautifully.

The online MOT history shows nothing of concern whatsoever, and the car has only come to the attention of the MOT examiner four times in the past decade, and they were only trivial advisory points bar a failure in 2017 for dodgy indicators.

The MOT certificate expires in March 2020, and was granted without a single comment, just as it has been for the past three years.

The car comes with a huge number of expired MOT certificates plus a box file full of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it along with a stamped service history book, magazines, specification sheets, and the red vinyl wallet. It also has two sets of keys and remote fobs.

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 restored and maintained to the very highest standard.

Signal Red might not be the most common colour choice for your new Mercedes SL but the reality is that it looks absolutely fabulous in the flesh, adding a delicacy and sportiness to the look that is often missing in the more usual silver or dark metallic colours.

It helps that this is an especially good example. While you might think that you want a concours one, you really don’t if you’re buying it to actually drive; what you want is one like this, one that will win its class at your local classic car show but isn’t too valuable to park on the street when you use it for a weekend away somewhere sunny.

Which brings us to the question of what we think it will sell for. Rating an eight or nine out of ten for condition, we think it will sell for between £15,000 and £20,000, which feels like a bit of a steal to us, especially when you remember that the reserve is set even lower…

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car can be seen here at The Market HQ in 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, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings of any auction, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles we have for sale. While we use our trade experience to assess every car that comes through our hands (and between us we have bought hundreds of classic cars over the years for our personal use…) we are fallible, and our assessment of a car may contrast with that you might form yourself.

This is why we offer a far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange a professional inspection on their behalf of, each vehicle prior to bidding than any traditional car auction, and we will never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this by coming to see it in person.

That said, 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 those formed as a 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.