1992 Mercedes-Benz 500SL

Welcome to our latest auction, this time for a powerhouse of a sports car and a genuine icon, the Mercedes-Benz 500SL. Imported recently from the tiny island of Macau, it is thought to have had just one owner from new and shows just 40,000kms on the odometer.

MOT’d and complete with the appropriate paperwork showing that all taxes have been paid and it is ready to be UK registered, the vendor tells us that it has a full service history but he has unfortunately misplaced it.

Finished in black over black, it has been standing for a while, so there are a few little jobs for you to get your teeth into. But, more importantly, it appears completely solid and is free of the sort of rust and corrosion you often see on UK cars, so swings and roundabouts, eh?

Plus, it’s being offered with a very sensible guide price and no reserve, making this is your chance to get your hands on an R129 500SL for less money than you ever thought possible…

Now finished in black, the SL started life white. The work seems to have been done well and you have to look hard to find any traces of its previous life – and given that life has been lived in the friendly climate of Macau, there are fair fewer problems than are usually found in cars that have lived their lives in the salty environs of the UK.

And, it all still lines up very nicely. The panels have tight shutlines, and their alignment is spot-on. There’s a good finish to the paint too but there’s no denying that black is a notoriously unforgiving colour, showing up even the most minor of flaws.

The black fabric roof opens and closes well, and is nice and taut when it is up. As you can see from the photos, the hard-top roof is in a very good condition too, and its presence adds considerably to the SL’s all-weather usability.

The AMG alloy wheels, which are 19-inch in diameter, do show some scuffs to their rims as well as some alloy corrosion. A couple of the tyres have had big chunks taken out of them too, so it would probably be prudent to allow enough in the budget to allow for the former to be refurbished and the latter replaced.

That said, the tyres are matching Dunlops, which says good things about its previous owner because, as we will never tire 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 it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

There are a couple of minor jobs for you to while away a few hours fixing. The tonneau cover, for example, works only intermittently when trying to lift up as part of the roof lift. There’s also a small part of the bumper trim in the boot that will need to be reaffixed.

Other flaws, aside from the usual stonechips and marks, include a couple of small dents on the nearside rear wing (photo #33 refers), a dink on the offside rear wing (#34), a cracked front indicator lens (#154), and some light scratches to the car’s corners.

Oh, and the number plates are Macau plates as it still needs UK registering and replacing.

The black leather seats are in good shape and show only gentle creasing and wear; in fact, they’re in such good shape that they do hint that that ultra-low mileage might just be genuine…

The rear seats are very good too but then that’s not a huge surprise given how little legroom there is back there, is it?

The wooden veneer is free of sun-fading and cracks, as is the top of the dashboard; both suffer in hot climates, so their condition hints again at a life gently led and/or an unusually sympathetic owner. This theory is supported by the condition of the door cards and carpets, which are in fair to good condition, a state of affairs that could move firmly to ‘good’ with a decent valet.

The boot, which is home to an OE alloy wheel, is utterly solid and free of rust. There’s a Kenwood multichanger is there too, as well as a Panasonic headunit in the dashboard.

There is a short list of stuff to work your way through, almost certainly only having arisen because it’s been standing for a while. Anyway, the stuff we’ve identified includes external mirrors that don't adjust, a driver’s seatbelt that doesn’t recoil, a parking brake handle that comes away in your hand, and both the external temperature gauge and the rev counter are on strike.

The SL starts promptly and drives pretty well. There’s no doubt that it would benefit from a full service but then that’s par for the course with any ‘new’ classic car, isn’t it?

Faults? Well, the wipers don’t work, it holds onto the gears a bit too long, the suspension feels like it’s past its best, the steering is a little loose, and there is the occasional rev flareup when it is started.

The engine bay is grubby but that’s not the end of the world, is it? More crucially, the underside looks to be utterly solid and free of the sort of rot and bodged repairs that haunt many UK-registered examples.

The SL’s MOT certificate is valid until September 2021. As is so often the case with imported vehicles, it doesn’t have much other paperwork bar a NOVA letter from the DVLA showing that the appropriate taxes have been paid plus a couple of bits in Portuguese and Chinese from its time in Macau.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing to see photos of this paperwork.

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: As we mentioned in the introduction, the vendor tells us that it had a fully stamped service history booklet when he bought it but he has, sadly, misplaced it. However, he will keep looking and will forward it to the winning bidder if/when he finds it! Please bid accordingly.

The R129 is as pretty as it is tough - and that’s worth something in today’s troubled times; only two things will survive in the apocalypse that 2021 is building up to be: Donald Trump’s election claims and Mercedes-Benz cars built in the eighties and nineties.

And, if you’re going to buy one then you might as well get one like this that needs some gentle fettling to coax it back into rude good health; after all, we’re all likely to have a lot of more time on our hands this winter than we first thought, and most of us would rather spend it in the garage than refereeing family squabbles and arguing over whose turn it is to forage for food at the municipal tip…

All of which makes out guide price of somewhere between £7,000 and £11,000 look like a bit of a steal - and, it is offered no reserve, so this might end up being a very cost-effective way of getting your hands on a blue-chip sporting convertible for next summer.

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’.