Any R129 Aficionados care to comment please?

[Blobsta]

I have loved the R129 since I was a child, one of our neighbours used to work at the Sparshatts dealership in Dartford and got to bring home something different almost every day, more often than not, he'd be in an R129 from the moment they were released. I can recall being wowed by the way it would break traction on the (then) massive rear tyres when joining the main road from our estate and thinking it was an utter beast. Obviously he was just abusing a brand new loan car, I see that now but I love them all the same.

Having only once driven a very ropey one when I was too immature to appreciate it I have as good as zero experience with them. All the same I adore the look of them and feel that one is a bucket list car two own.

I had toyed with the idea of selling my daily driver CLK on the grounds of family practicality but then I bought an ML320 (check the detailing forum for that beauty) which kind of covers the practicality aspect. Kind of.

To the point, this has been for sale for absolutely ages as have many other SL's but I showed it to Mrs H the other night who didn't make disapproval noises and I thought "Why the hell not go and view it?" Aside from the very obvious reasons not to go and look at a car you want. Also, it is this weekend that Mrs H is taking the children to the festival in the ML so I will also be left unsupervised!

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I love the colour; more to the point, I love that its not silver; silver cars don't do it for me at all I feel it smacks of a lack of imagination or those people that you hear saying things like "it doesn't show the dirt". Whilst there is an element of truth to that, a properly clean silver car stands out from the crowd. Anyway, I don't want a silver one. The ML is the first silver car I've owned (had one silver motorcycle too) and of 36 vehicles that's not bad going, I'm fairly committed to not having silver but I digress!

What I want to know first off is whether or not the wheels are replicas? Should they not have the AMG logo in them if they are the real deal, I think so but am happy to be corrected. I'll be looking at things like rust, oil leaks, hood operation and condition etc. and I have no doubt that there are enough threads if I search asking what to check for. I am interested to see what you lot think of this particular car and anything you can spot that looks wrong or out of place on it.

Can anyone tell me if at this age it should have the electric interior mirror I recently found out about on these cars or was that on the early ones only? I understand they are usually broken as so few people knew of them.

In an ideal world, I would want a Pano roof in the hard top but I bet that was s huge cost option so there are hardly any about anyway.

Your thoughts and impressions would be greatly appreciated. Ready? Go!

Richard

 

[BTB 500]

The wheels are definitely replicas ... they're single-piece rims with dummy screw heads to make them look like the AMG two-piece ones (which are worth a small fortune nowadays). Electric interior mirror on earlier cars only.

From the pictures it looks like a decent car, but obviously you'd want to give it a good check over. It doesn't have heated seats (which were an option). Downsides? 118k miles isn't crazy but it's quite high for an R129 (which isn't usually a daily driver). And it's 'only' a 320 (I notice it's been de-badged) - these are 2-tonne cars, so 0-62 in 8.4 secs when new (and 15.4 mpg on the urban cycle). But if you like the colour and want a cruiser it could be fine.

The panoramic top was a £2,600 option in 1997. They do come up for sale occasionally, so you might be able to pick one up later and get it sprayed (and sell the standard top to get some money back). I only use my R129 with the top down in nice weather though, so it's not had the hard top fitted for many years.

 

[Doodle]

Electric interior mirror on earlier cars only.

which were often broken because people haven't realised it's electric and yanked on it to adjust.

As Bill says, the wheels are replicas with nasty tyres and it's not overly optioned (just the rear seats by the look of it), but it looks otherwise fine in the pictures. Condition and provenance will give the final indicator, and you can only really see that when you're there.

It hasn't got a current ticket, and the history incates the left lower arm ball joint will need attention if it hasn't already. I'm pretty sure by this point they used cast ball joints (earlier ones were replaceable) so it'll be a complete new arm - genuine parts are furiously expensive for those.

 

[Blobsta]

Thanks Bill, I know it won't touch my CLK350 on performance but equally I don't care about that really. I have the bikes for quick 0-60 or the Mustang and you can't use it anyway. Fuel economy isn't an issue either as I don't commute to work these days but it would become a daily driver for me.

The hardtop wouldn't be a deal breaker, I like the car with the roof down and love the look of it with the hard top on. Canvas top isn't nice at all but it wouldn't be left In that state much. I suppose it is a concern about the condition of the soft top though, if it's been stored for a long time down it could be in a bit of a state?

Does anyone know if the hardtops leak? My CLK doesn't let a drop of water in anywhere, it's utterly brilliant with the soft top but my brother had an E36 BMW cabriolet that was bone dry with the soft top up and just poured water in when he got a hard top for it. Awful trade off, dry with a plastic window or wet with a heated glass screen and better looks. I can't stand cars that leak and I won't have one. I suppose most R129s are garage queens these days so it may be a case of suck it and see?

 

[Blobsta]

As Bill says, the wheels are replicas with nasty tyres

Tyres are an excellent indicator of how a car is cared for aren't they? He says with matched Goodyears all round the CLK and quietly wincing at the thought of what is on the ML currently. Ticket is out by some time too, looks like it did most of it's mileage in it's earlier years but it sort of proves that it has been for sale for a very long time now.

It also breaks my self imposed rule of never buying a car inside the M25. I have had so many wasted journeys to view utter garbage I gave up a few years ago. This is only being considered as a viewing because I used to work in Bromley so I thought I'd have a drive up there and see it again.

What options were available or more importantly desirable aside from heated seats? I don't care for heated seats personally but you have to consider the resale aspect I guess.

 

[BTB 500]

The hardtop wouldn't be a deal breaker, I like the car with the roof down and love the look of it with the hard top on. Canvas top isn't nice at all but it wouldn't be left In that state much. I suppose it is a concern about the condition of the soft top though, if it's been stored for a long time down it could be in a bit of a state?

Does anyone know if the hardtops leak? My CLK doesn't let a drop of water in anywhere, it's utterly brilliant with the soft top but my brother had an E36 BMW cabriolet that was bone dry with the soft top up and just poured water in when he got a hard top for it. Awful trade off, dry with a plastic window or wet with a heated glass screen and better looks. I can't stand cars that leak and I won't have one. I suppose most R129s are garage queens these days so it may be a case of suck it and see?

You'd need to check the condition of the hood carefully - the plastic rear and side windows eventually crack on the fold line (but can be replaced). I wonder what colour hood this one has .. likely to be black I suspect.

The hard top and hood should both be completely watertight so long as the rubber seals are in good condition.

 

[BTB 500]

What options were available or more importantly desirable aside from heated seats? I don't care for heated seats personally but you have to consider the resale aspect I guess.

I have attached my 1997 model year price list

 

[Doodle]

Does anyone know if the hardtops leak? My CLK doesn't let a drop of water in anywhere, it's utterly brilliant with the soft top but my brother had an E36 BMW cabriolet that was bone dry with the soft top up and just poured water in when he got a hard top for it. Awful trade off, dry with a plastic window or wet with a heated glass screen and better looks. I can't stand cars that leak and I won't have one. I suppose most R129s are garage queens these days so it may be a case of suck it and see?

If the seals are in good condition and the roof is properly adjusted, then no. A sorted hardtop will stay bone dry.

 

[Blobsta]

I have attached my 1997 model year price list

Whoa! they were an expensive car! Just looked on an inflation calculator, SL320 at base is over £117k in 2020. I was thinking that they shouldn't be as much money as they are currently but I had better change my tune on that, suddenly sub £10k is a bargain

If the seals are in good condition and the roof is properly adjusted, then no. A sorted hardtop will stay bone dry.

As I would expect from a Mercedes really. Almost feel silly for asking but my CLK is my first cabriolet and my brother's made me nervous.

 

[jasmine]

having had lots of 129s from my experience there will be lots of little electrical gremlins , once youve worked these out they are a pleasure to own . every time i pull or push the roof operation button i cross my fingers , still love them though

 

[jasmine]

a good friend of mine has the same colour as yours ... its like marmite ...........
we all call him Crocket but he loves it

 

[Doodle]

Whoa! they were an expensive car! Just looked on an inflation calculator, SL320 at base is over £117k in 2020. I was thinking that they shouldn't be as much money as they are currently but I had better change my tune on that, suddenly sub £10k is a bargain

I have the original purchase document for mine in '95. The first owner part-ex'd a 1 year old C-class and handed over nearly £70k on top to buy it.

 

[Wearsthefoxhat]

It looks nice, go and have a look at it. Ask some questions and see if it all works, at least twice.
as already pointed out, the tyres are an indication of corners cut..

 

[E55BOF]

OP, have you seen that dealer's recent reviews? Be careful...

 

[Smiley]

I had a SL500 129 quite a few years ago. It was a great car, I would recommend buying the 500 rather than the 280 or the 320. The hardtop is a real piece of quality - but be aware it is heavy (and the pano roof is even heavier) so will need two people to lift it on and off - and you will need somewhere to store it when it is not in use. These were super expensive new - I had the original invoice and mine was £83k new in 1996 and was down to £16k in 2004 with 50k miles on it - more than £1 per mile in depreciation.
I don't think the 320 in the ad is cheap - it is not low mileage, it is a 320, it has cheapo tyres on it, no pano roof, not many options and a marmite colour - why would anyone buy it?

 

[Blobsta]

I don't think this is the actual car I would end up buying, but in order to benchmark yourself you need to look at a few don't you? The point of the exercise for me was to put myself in front of one and see how I felt about them in general. Obviously the consensus here is that this isn't a good one. WRT the dealer, I'd probably look to buy privately rather than from a company called Carsite (silent h?). I'm well aware of the dealer aspect and the fact that it's inside the M25 just adds weight to my feelings on that area for cars, that said, I appreciate you all looking out for me.

To answer your last question Smiley, no one would or at least has so far, I think it's been advertised for the best part of a year!

Anyone in Kent ideally Maidstone area got one that they would like to give me an honest warts-n-all appraisal of? If you aren't looking to sell then there's no pressure but I'd really like to see one close up as the opportunities just don't really come up to be able to do that. It's something I have done a couple of times for prospective Mustang owners as you can't often get to see those and understand the reality of living with LHD if you've never done it.

 

[Blobsta]

This would probably be a better one to look at I guess. The wheels need returning to silver of course. Used Mercedes-benz Sl Class Convertible 5.0 Sl500 2dr in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire | Allwood Automobiles

 

[C43AMG]

Great Colour + options and the wheels

 

[BTB 500]

This would probably be a better one to look at I guess. The wheels need returning to silver of course. Used Mercedes-benz Sl Class Convertible 5.0 Sl500 2dr in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire | Allwood Automobiles

You are finding some unusual colours! This one is interesting in that it's a 'facelift' (1996 model year) car that still has the older style climate control unit (there was a crossover period when this happened). Looks decent in the pictures, although there's something a bit odd about the steering wheel (it's maybe been re-covered) and it has an aftermarket exhaust of course.

 

[Wagon]

This would probably be a better one to look at I guess. The wheels need returning to silver of course. Used Mercedes-benz Sl Class Convertible 5.0 Sl500 2dr in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire | Allwood Automobiles

That exhaust would put me off ,I drove one with an aftermarket cat back section and it sounded dreadful .
The R129 is a very quiet car and for me a shouty exhaust doesn't suit , a genuine replacement is not cheap either..
Add in to the price replacement suspension bushes etc they are heavy cars.
If your going to look at that one I'm happy to let you have a gander at mine ,I'm not far from Waltham Cross