Highlights
- High specification 500SL
- Rare colourway with Smoke Silver exterior paintwork
- Just over 65 thousand miles displayed
- Colour matched removable hard top roof still present
The Appeal
It's that cool, elegant luxury roadster, you can’t help but admire. That perfect blend of sophistication and open top performance you can only get from a Mercedes SL. The R129 era cars were impressively advanced for their time and represented a huge leap forward for the model, and Mercedes Benz in general, boasting great improvements in design, performance and safety, whilst sticking true to the core values that made the SL a class leader in the world of luxury performance tourers.
H91 VYB is a very early, pre facelift SL500. In its wonderful Smoke Silver hue it certainly looks every part the elegant roadster, and with just over 65k on the clock, is barely run in, especially by 1990s Mercedes standards. Standing today in wonderful original order, with a thumping great factory fitted V8, this SL presents itself as an ideal collectors Mercedes with a genuine usable nature to it. Certainly it is one of the better R129s on the market today.
The History and Paperwork
- First registered 09/01/1991
- Supplied originally through Cross Keys Mercedes of Somerset as we understand
- Copy of the original delivery check sheet is present with the car
- Within the history file we find a print out digital service record, highlighting of the all the known services and their relevant dates and mileage marks
- The document indicates consistent servicing at regular intervals with the most recent undertaken at 62,680 miles
- Purchased as a fun weekend car circa by the current keeper circa 2018
- Dry stored throughout this ownership up to present day
- Current MOT valid with no advisories until January 2024
- V5 registration document present with the vehicle
- Two sets of keys
The Interior
- High quality, impressively original interior space
- Upholstered in excellent Pebble Beige leather
- The leather itself is of a marvellously high quality throughout and is incredibly limited in signs of wear or blemishing
- Good quality leather seating front and rear, with strong bolstering and minimal indications of excessive use or heavier wearing
- Plush beige carpeting across the cabin floor
- Well upholstered door panels mixing both beige leather and carpeting with quality door furniture and embellishments
- Electric memory seating in the front
- Subtle wood finish trim on both the doors and central tunnel, all in great shape with a high gloss shine
- Upgraded Pioneer radio head unit
- For those looking to preserve originality, the original Mercedes radio cassette player is still present with the vehicle
- Interior switchgear and trim is of a brilliant standard and presents in good clean form
- Contrasting black dash panel which looks to be free from the sun fading and cracking often found on dashboards of this age
- Electric side windows
- Well sized carpeted boot area with first aid kit and tool wrap
- Colour matched beige wind deflector present
The Exterior
- Early pre facelift R129
- Finished in rare, and rather suave Mercedes Smoke Silver
- Paintwork is of a marvellous quality, with a rich shine throughout, and just minor signs of age related marking around the car, namely the front bumper
- Removable hardtop roof present and finished in matching Smoke Silver
- The hardtop unlatches smoothly and can be lifted off with relative ease
- A contrasting black soft top roof is also present, in good clean form with just some slight flawing to the upholstery on one of the lower sections
- The soft top opens, closes and stows away in quick and efficient manner
- Four 16” Mercedes alloys reside at ground level, all in good presentable form
- A fifth full size spare wheel sits within a bespoke segment under the boot floor
- The exterior, trim, badging and glass work is all of a wonderful standard
- Panel gaps appear straight and consistent across the car
- Overall this is a wonderfully presented, highly original R129, that in its alluring colourway, would make an excellent candidate to be preserved as a collector car
The Mechanics
- Top flight SL500 with the accompanying thunderous 5.0 litre V8 Mercedes engine
- Mated to an impressively smooth automatic transmission
- Presented in great overall mechanical order, with a clean engine and surrounding engine bay
- The car fires into life, quickly and comfortably, with a subtle but quality V8 engine note emitting from the exhaust
- Just over 65 thousand miles displayed
- Regularly serviced, with the most recent being at 62,680 miles
- Current advisory free MOT valid until January 2024 for added peace of mind
- The car appears clean and solid underneath upon inspection
Summary
The R129 era SL is slowly emerging from the shadows of its R107 and W113 forbears to become in its own right, a highly desirable, collectors Mercedes. Sophisticated and elegant but at the cutting edge of automotive technology for its time, the model stands today as a genuinely usable classic Mercedes.
In its Smoke Silver splendour, this early pre facelift SL500 with just over 65 thousand miles displayed would surely make an excellent candidate for preservation over the years to come as a quality show piece, but at the same time, does lend itself quite well to more regular continued use. Whichever direction you may be thinking of taking it, this highly original luxury tourer will be more than capable of handling the task.
Notice to bidders
This item is sold on an ‘As is Where is’ basis. The condition of this item is the opinion of the seller and may differ from your own opinion. Photos and listing descriptions are for guidance purposes only*.** Car & Classic do not warrant listing accuracy. Full inspection is recommended. Viewings are at the seller’s discretion. Buyer is responsible for delivery and collection of any item purchased.*
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