107s do have their issues ; I’d have a R129 over it all day long
MERCEDES 560 SL de 1986 à vendre
Mercedes Benz 560SL, V8 5,6 litres. Boîte de vitesse automatique. Une Mercedes 560SL Roadster de 1986 parfaitement opérationnelle et roulante. Une très belle voiture. A un toit rigide et ...www.lesanciennes.com
Or how about a roadster? High mileage at 162K and a left hooker but sensibly priced at a touch under £19,000.
May need some bodywork, reading between the lines.
Nice 560 SEC - 69k miles
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Yep , all three of my W126s had rust there , and two of my W201s
I actually liked the SLCs , especially those clever louvres in the C pillars which were angled to allow the driver an unobstructed view out . One of the most comfortable cars MB ever made and lovely to drive . Smaller and handier feeling than an SEC
MikeInWimbledon
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You and I know that but most don’t and can’t be bothered to find out.
It a regular bit of chit chat: “ have to have Bluetooth, or Bluetooth music, or CarPlay…”
R129's have their issues also, top cylinders and plastic around the mirror are my biggest gripe with mine. Otherwise it's been a pretty solid car.
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I remember , after reading the blink codes , that it seemed to be a microswitch the one time my top gave trouble ; spreading in some contact cleaner and adjusting the switch sorted it . I changed the ZHM fluid in mine by syringing it out as much as i could and replenishing with new a couple of times over my seven year ownership , until the gearbox went bang a little north of 200,000 miles , the car was pretty much trouble free ; the gearbox had issues even when I bought the car and changing the ATF and filter made no difference . Long gone now anyway , but I'd still have another one , either another 300SL-24 or if I felt brave enough a 600 since a V-12 is the one engine configuration I have yet to own , discounting I will never aspire to a V-16 or anything else more extravagant . Don't know if any of the 85 W140 800SEL prototypes that were allegedly built might still exist holed up in a storage facility somewhere ... think the V-16 was also rumoured to be going into the Maybach , but never did , and don't think they actually made any of the V-24s that were also talked about .
The switches are not the biggest problem. More so, the o rings failing on the cylinders which tend to happen only when someone is wearing their favorite shirt. There are 12 cylinders in total and some are a total b*stard to get to. It's a 15-20 hour job. The gearbox problem you describe sounds like classic conductor plate / round plug tcm cleaning job.
I had a 300SL-24 with a 5 speed manual and even though it was in horrible shape, it was a delight to drive. I'd buy another. The beauty of the R107 is its simplicity. Anybody can fix one and because they were made for such a long time, and were so popular, support for them is still plenty strong.
I had a 300SL-24 with a 5 speed manual and even though it was in horrible shape, it was a delight to drive. I'd buy another. The beauty of the R107 is its simplicity. Anybody can fix one and because they were made for such a long time, and were so popular, support for them is still plenty strong.
Yep my 300SL-24 was a 5 speed auto , and it was just so much fun to scream that engine to the limit at every opportunity .
I read several times about people wrestling with the roof hydraulics , which in part was why I changed the oil twice , but thankfully never had any trouble barring one of the latch cylinders above the windscreen sticking after a period of not being used , but it came back with exercise and none of mine ever leaked ; I also know how much of a pain access was for some of these having had so much of the car apart at one time or another .
The only real issue with 107s is rust with a capital R ; I can fix or swap over mechanical bits , but I don't do bodywork .
Living in Texas helps with this. My R107 500SL has zero rust anywhere. I'm dismantled and thrown away several rust free W108's, W109's, R/C107's and W126 + several Jags. I wish there was an inexpensive way to ship them to Europe.
Ditto Pontons and Fintails , which are now potentially worth much more over here now ; W113's are already being brought here from the states and commanding very high prices , even for wrecks , just because they are rust free .
Have to say that 15-20 hours to replace a hydraulic cylinder is a lot more palatable than the work involved to look after a 107 corrosion wise in the UK.
At least the hydraulic stuff is just bolt on, simple swap out and forget stuff. Chasing rust is a PITA and expensive and never really quite as good as original whatever you do.
Funny you should say about the shirt thing - I have one of the front roof lock cylinders to look at on mine (noticed the slightest drip at the top of the A-pillar, no issues with operation though) - although these look very simple to access and if I can’t get it apart to swap the seals they’re not mega bucks to replace.
The top ones are super easy to get to and there are a billion youtube videos on how to take them apart and replace the o rings. Rust is like cancer, whatever you see is nothing compared to what you don't see. Unfortunately, it's a problem on just about any old car in the UK for the simple reason that they salt roads, and it just takes a stone chip or undercoating to fail for it to work its way in so I would not count on an R129 to be totally rust free... although it will certainly rust less.
The difference with living in a dry climate is that every suspension bolt, every steel brake line, control arms, flex disc bolts, exhaust on my R107 looks brand spanking new after 40 years.
I don’t think an R129 is likely to be totally rust free, but I was surprised at how tidy my 1997 example looks like for a relatively well used UK example.
It was cleaned and waxoyled by a marque specialist (SL Shop) some years ago so that’s probably helped, but generally all the fasteners look pretty good and the bodywork has held up well.
Most R107s that have been used in this climate have either rotted away or have been restored - doesn’t seem to be many exceptions.
Even R230s are starting to show their age corrosion wise and they have a whole heap more electronic and hydraulic issues to deal with too!
It was cleaned and waxoyled by a marque specialist (SL Shop) some years ago so that’s probably helped, but generally all the fasteners look pretty good and the bodywork has held up well.
Most R107s that have been used in this climate have either rotted away or have been restored - doesn’t seem to be many exceptions.
Even R230s are starting to show their age corrosion wise and they have a whole heap more electronic and hydraulic issues to deal with too!
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