・Excellent runner

・Hard-top included

・MOT’d and ready to use
・Loads of potential

It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that R107-generation SLs are quite popular these days. In truth, they’ve never not been popular; sales were so strong and demand so high that the model remained in production for a staggering amount of time, from 1971 right up to 1989, and given their rugged construct, near-ageless styling and general usability and dependability, consumer desire has never really dipped.

If you’ve been observing all of this, you’ll probably also have noticed how prices have remained consistently strong, and are steadily climbing. But does that mean that the R107 is unattainable for those on a modest budget? No, not necessarily, and the car we have here is solid proof. While it’s not uncommon for original, low-mileage 300/450/500 SLs to sell for £25-30k (or more), there are more financially accessible options. You just have to think laterally.

The car you see here is a 1980 280 SL. As an interesting reference point, we recently auctioned a tidy, low-mileage ’84 280 SL in this colour and trim, and that sold for £17,750. Now, as you can see from the photos, this car will require a little work to get it to that aesthetic standard, but this is where the smart money comes in: this car is an excellent runner, it’s all complete, mainly solid and – crucially – MOT’d. With some money spent on the bodywork and roof, this will surely clean up into a stunning cruiser in time for the summer. A usable R107 that you don’t have to pay top-dollar for? They do still exist. The evidence is right here before you.

History and provenance are two key things that bolster the values of classic cars. If you can trace the history right back to the first owner and everything’s neatly documented, then that’s all very reassuring but of course it does increase the selling price. To be brutally honest, we can’t tell you a huge amount about this SL’s past across the decades, but what we can say is that it’s had relatively few owners (just five in forty-one years), it’s been MOT’d and in fairly regular use for every year as far back as the online MOT records go, and it’s recently had a decent chunk of cash spent on making sure it’s running sweetly. What you see is what you get, but let us assure you that in spite of the odd aesthetic blemish, it really does drive very well indeed. It’s a car with a lot of potential – not a full-on project, just a bit of a fixer-upper. The bones are good. Now it’s your turn to make it shine.

The correct V5 is present, showing the car’s date of first registration as November 27th 1980 (exactly a week after the ‘Who Shot J.R.?’ episode of Dallas aired; that may or may not be connected), and showing five former keepers. So it’s clearly a car that gets under people’s skin and inspires some level of affection, with each owner keeping it for (on average) over eight years.

The rest of the paperwork file is a little patchy, but still useful for research: a couple of old MOTs are included, with the one from 2004 showing us that the car’s original registration number (before it was fitted with this dateless Northern Irish one) was ULB 46W. The owner’s manual is present, albeit a reproduction item, and there’s a bill of sale from 1999 when the car was sold in Bromley for £9,200. As a matter of interest – although by no means to be taken as gospel – is a comprehensive inspection report from The SEC Shop, who evidently used to look after the car (as an under-bonnet sticker suggests). Now, this document isn’t dated so we can’t say how much of it is still accurate today, although one particular detail of note is that the mileage at the time was 85,000 and the speedo had been replaced – hence the much lower mileage showing in the car today.

The most reassuring document of all is the invoice from September 2020, showing that £1,087 was spent on attending to a few issues to ensure the car got through its MOT; this work included some welding in the nearside front footwell and at the offside rear, as well as an alternator repair, power-steering belt, fan belt, and attention to the radiator.

It’s all present and correct in here, with everything being in decent condition overall. The dash is in good order; there are a few cracks on the dash-top, which isn’t uncommon with these cars, but all of the wood trim is in good condition with no spidering or lacquer peel. All of the gauges work, and there are no warning lights showing. The seats are generally good, aside from a small hole in the passenger seat base; they’re just as comfortable and supportive as they should be, and tilt forward and resecure correctly. A Pioneer CD/radio head unit has been fitted, but apart from that it’s all factory-standard in here. The carpets are good, and so are the door cards.

Inside the boot we find the correct spare wheel, along with the first aid kit, jack, warning triangle and tools. The bootlid could do with a new strut to hold it open, but such things are readily available.

This is where this car’s value really comes to the fore. There are a few obvious blemishes across the car’s body, but we’d suggest this is something to be embraced rather than shied away from – after all, it’s the patches of corrosion and filler that would make many buyers simply walk away, but there’s nothing too taxing to sort here and having it done properly wouldn’t lead to financial heartache. The key problem areas are the front wings (above the headlights, and down at the lower edges), the rear arches, and the door bottoms. The rear deck around the soft-top tonneau is showing signs of corrosion, and on either side of the car where the rear wings meet the doors, some filler has been inexpertly applied and rattle-canned over. However, going into the purchase with your eyes open, you can add these areas to your to-do list and assess how much further you’d need to go – which, frankly, doesn’t look like it’d be too much further. All of the light lenses and window glass are good, and the correct trim is all in place – although the bumpers are corroded in places and would ideally need replacing.
The wheels are in pretty decent condition (one of them has some red paint overspray, but that’ll clean off), and are fitted with budget tyres with plenty of tread. The car comes with its original factory hard-top, which is in generally good order – some corrosion to the lower inner edges, as is common, but with good window glass and a tidy headlining. The soft-top will require replacement, but crucially the frame is intact and that’s the important bit; with that in place and working well (it raises, lowers and latches correctly) it won’t be hard to reskin it with a fresh new roof.

This SL’s trump card is the way it runs. All it takes is one drive in this car to let all of the aesthetic issues simply drift away from your mind. The 2.8-litre twin-cam straight-six is a solid and robust unit, and in this case it’s just as silky-smooth as you’d hope. It fires easily on the first twist of the key, idles evenly, registers the correct temperatures and pressures, and pulls with decent enthusiasm through the revs. The automatic transmission shifts smoothly and without undue hesitation, and there are no knocks, rattles or alarming noises anywhere. The power-steering works well, the brakes are strong, the suspension rides beautifully. It’s a lovely little SL to drive. 

It would be a great shame to overlook this SL simply because its bodywork requires a little tidying and the paper trail isn’t as comprehensive as some of its peers. Indeed, this 280 is positively brimming over with potential; a superb runner in fine mechanical fettle, it could readily be pressed into regular use while you draw up your to-do list – and on the whole, that wouldn’t be a very long list. With some money spent on the bodywork and a new soft-top skin, plus the odd trim piece here and there and a general tidy-up, before you know it you’ll have a lovely example of an R107 for a fraction of the cost of most on the market. Who says high-end cars need to cost high-roller money?

Notice to bidders