If you’re looking for that classic European GT experience at an affordable price of entry, without facing the complexity of say, a Jaguar V12, there aren’t many choices out there. Contemporaries of the C107 Mercedes coupes included the E9 BMW coupes, Jaguar XJ-S and XJ6C, Citroen SM, Alfa Romeo Montreal, Rolls Royce Silver Shadow Coupe, or Maserati Indy, but none are as accessible as the Mercedes. What’s more is, thanks to the 8-year run of the C107 and the epic 16-year run of the R107, many parts are plentiful, even in junkyards if you are persistent. That said, don’t kid yourself into thinking this will be cheap, but that’s not reason enough to disregard this 1973 Mercedes 450 SLC for sale for $2000 in Lynnwood, WA.
When there are slightly more expensive (and likely better) examples available for slightly more money, why look at this one? Well, for starters it’s a 1973 car, which puts it before many states’ emissions test cut-off dates, guarantees the one-year-only small bumpers, and because it comes in this very smart dark blue. In addition, pre-1975 cars avoid the underhood catalytic converter that caused hot-starting problems, and pre-1978 cars get a manual climate control system that is less trouble prone than the early automatic climate control.
Disregarding the asking price, this car looks to be in lovely condition, but the lighting on the car’s lower extremities is probably hiding something since it’s said to need rust repair in the floors, and you might want to count on more, just to be safe. In addition, the interior is said to need some work, but this is hopefully where a parts car (or parts from a wrecking yard) could come to your rescue.
It’s said to have had new brakes and tires a year ago, and is the seller’s daily driver, so you know the mechanical bits have to be in reasonably good shape. Buying an earlier C107 also gets you more power, since the 1981 380SLC dropped a whopping 35hp and 24 lb.-ft. of torque with its new, smaller engine. The seller is selling due to having too many projects, so it’s worth finding out what got priority and why. Nonetheless, these cars seem to be exceptional value in their segment, and worth a closer look.
Rusty But Trusty 
February 6, 2016 at 4:35 am |
saw this on cl yesterday, plan to go see it sat. wife approves. looks like a lot of car for the money
February 6, 2016 at 1:07 pm |
Cool, keep me updated, will be interested to hear what it’s really like. There’s a gray market 280SLC that also looks interesting listed in Seattle.