The name SL may be short for Sport Light, but this is no sports car the R107 is more of a cruiser. With a choice of engines offered the driving characteristics vary enormously between the different models. The 2nd generation (R107) of SL`s was in production for 18 years, with the final car coming off the production line in August 1989 which now sits in the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart.
The SL variant was a 2-seat convertible/roadster with standard soft top and optional hardtop and optional folding seats for the rear bench. Initially sold with V8 engines in the form of the 350SL and 450SL, the SL received the 2.8-litre twin-cam to become the 280SL later on. A very capable entry-level car that encouraged new customers into the Mercedes-Benz camp. In 1980, the SL received a facelift, a raft of technical changes to reflect the new technology that had been included in the 1979 S-Class sister car. The main change being upgrading the standard gearbox from a four to a five speed manual. The V8s were upgraded to the 380SL and 500SL specifications, which were then further tweaked for improved fuel consumption in September 1981. Further running changes included increasing the six-cylinder 280SL's engine capacity to 3.0-litres in 1985. At the same time, the 380SL became the 420SL, and a new entry was the impressive 560SL, which ended up joining the 500SL, but not replacing it.
The car we have on offer was first registered in August 1988 in Signal red with black leather interior and complete with matching coloured hard top and a black soft top. This 4 owner car was specified with the optional rear folding seat has been well looked after with the last owner keeping it for 27 years and having covered less than 34,000 miles in its life this has to be one of the lowest mileage cars available on the market today.