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

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