1992 Mercedes-Benz 500SL

This 1992 500SL is a good, solid, low mileage car that spent its life in Japan prior to finding its way to our shores in 2016.

We mention that because, well, it matters. It may be something of a cliché to talk about the roll of ‘honour’ in Japanese society and culture. But it’s no exaggeration to say that this tradition is alive and well in the Japanese motor trade, where mechanics are assiduously diligent in their work, dealers are scrupulously honest in their valuations, and owners take real pride in the care and attention they lavish upon their cars. There appears little place for Trotter-san or Daley-san in their motor trade.

That said, this Japanese import is nearly 30 years old. 1991 was the year Ed Sheeran was born, the USSR ended and the first Gulf War started. No doubt just as important to the car’s first Japanese buyer, it was also the year Chiyonofuji Mitsugu - champion sumo wrestler and the sport’s 58th yokozuna - finally retired. But, of course, you knew that.

Which makes its overall condition and quality all the more impressive. Aside from one or two relatively simple-to-fix issues, this car looks, drives and behaves in a manner that’s good even for its low mileage, never mind its age.

As far as we can tell, this car comes with a service history to cover its years in Japan. Perhaps surprisingly, our mastery of the Japanese language is not equal to the task of deciphering it. You may fare better.

Broadly speaking, the paintwork and finish are in very good condition and have polished up well. The panels and shutlines are clean, even and free from any dinks, creases or evidence of rust. There are no scuffs to speak of on the bumpers and there’s little evidence of stone chips or other nicks and scrapes.

The original AMG monoblock alloy wheels are free of corrosion and have only very minor marks to show for their age. The tyres are in good condition and have plenty of tread left on them.

The hard top is good except for some loose trim around a ‘B’ pillar. There is also some loose trim evident in a slight rattle when closing the driver’s door, and there is some discolouration to a small area of paint behind the hood at the n/s rear.

The fabric hood is clean and in fine fettle, apart from a few creases from where it’s been stowed for a while.

Some things that will need looking at are the seals on the struts that raise and lower the hood. It may well be possible to source and fit reconditioned/refurbished parts for these.

It’s all in very good condition, from the upholstery to the headlining, carpets, mats (and there are some used, spare mats in the boot), door cards, centre console and dashboard.

The only real sign of wear is some light creasing to the bolster on the driver’s seat.

It’s a 30 year old car. Any 30 year old who’s lived a bit should think himself lucky to have nothing worse to complain about than a bit of characterful creasing around the bolsters.

The AC doesn’t currently work and, we suspect, you may have to fit some extraneous gizmo to the Technics head unit in order to pick up the full range of UK radio frequencies. 

Being Japanese spec the speedo and odometer are calibrated in km, not miles.

The door mirrors do work, but only intermittently, and would therefore benefit from some attention.

Here’s a question. Have you ever thought how much easier life would be if it wasn’t for the back-breaking physical slog of having to manually adjust the central rear view mirror? Well, the engineers of Bremen have found a way to put an end to your suffering. You can adjust the rear view mirror using the toggle that controls the door mirrors. No, really, you can.

We honestly can’t recall ever having seen this feature on a car before! We presume this was a highly spec’d example!

This car is a Japanese import. This tells us two things.

Firstly, that it comes from a country where people tend to take pride in their cars and usually spend a great deal of time and effort cossetting them and making sure no harm comes to them.

Secondly, that it comes from a country where salt is thrown over the shoulders of sumo wrestlers, not chucked all over the roads in industrial quantities like it is in the UK.

Ergo, Japanese imports almost always have undersides with less corrosion than their British counterparts. And that’s very much the case here.

The engine bay is in equally fine fettle, with everything clean and tidy and in its right and proper place.

The car has an MOT until 13.8.21 and comes with two sets of keys. It also comes with the full set of handbooks and manuals, which may prove less than interesting reading if your mastery of the Japanese language doesn’t quite cut the mustard.

The gov.uk MOT checker and the Japanese Export Certificate say it was first registered in December 1992.

We do know that the car first came to the UK in 2016 in the company of its then owner, a Japanese banker. Clearly, he has addressed any of the advisories mentioned on previous MOTs (because it‘s passed its current MOT with no advisories) but chose not to keep receipts of the work done.

Our Japanese banker was then reassigned to somewhere in South America and decided to sell the car. The current owner had plans to take the car back to his native Ireland but, on being told by the Irish authorities that the UK-to-Ireland import duty would be in the region of £7,500, he quite rightly thought better of it and kept the car in storage in the UK for a couple of years.

He hasn’t used it much, hence the car’s presence on our pages.

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

And please be reassured, we’ve undertaken a full COVID-assessment and put into place strict control measure to enable us to safely facilitate a no-contact, socially distanced viewing that includes disinfection of the vehicle before and after your viewing.

This SL500 is extremely tidy on the whole and offers the promise of a lot of prestigious and luxurious motoring for not much money.

It is in need of only minor cosmetic touches and a couple of parts that will need sourcing. Other than that, it seems to us that it has the mechanical integrity, the provenance and the condition to give someone many years of high quality automotive pleasure.

The mileage is good, the condition is impressive and, being a Japanese import, its only encounter with salt will have come when accidentally driving over a bag of crisps.

We’re confident to offer this vehicle for auction with an estimate in the range of £9,000 – 11,000.

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’.