Junkyard Find: 1978 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC
The Mercedes-Benz R107/C107 is one of those cars that tends to be valued according to a binary system: a near-perfect example sells for a healthy five-figure sum, while one that’s even slightly beat is worth about as much as an ’86 Nissan Sentra with an alarming rod knock and a glovebox full of used syringes. That means that examples of Mercedes-Benz’s SL-Class machine of the 1970s and 1980s are not at all uncommon in self-service wrecking yards.
At the same time, most car freaks who never set foot in wrecking yards just can’t believe that you can get running 107s for pretty close to scrap value. The outcry of “that ain’t no $500 car!” that I heard when Rally Baby Racing‘s 1975 450SL showed up to to the Real Hoopties of New Jersey 24 Hours of LeMons was just deafening. Rally Baby applied the large economy size bucket of Bondo to their car, than shot a looks-great-from-100-feet coat of silver paint onto it while in a dirt field at New Jersey Motorsports Park on the night before the race. Bugs in the paint and all, this (street-registered) race car looks so good that I’ve been trying to buy it ever since.
Most of the junkyard R107s I’ve seen have been the 80s-coke-dealer-motor-pool 560SL, and they’re much more common in California yards than here in Denver. Still, I know that if Rally Baby Racing ever retires their race car and sells it to me (or if I build one myself) I’ll have no problem finding parts.
It’s hard to beat a red leather interior if you want to be King of the Malaise Era.
From the finger-bustingly cramped engine compartment stuffed full of 4.5 liters of overhead-cam V8 to the bewildering electrical system to the über-upscale interior pieces, these cars are challenging for the backyard mechanic and utter nightmares to restore if you want a really nice one.
They’re also shockingly heavy for their size and not particularly quick; the ’78 450SLC had 180 horsepower to move 3,715 pounds.
What was the original price tag on this totally-used-up Benz? $27,090, or about $95,500 in 2012 dollars.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I had a 73 450slc that was a tired rust bucket some years back. Traded it even for my 82 300d, fun little cars they are! Somewhat obscure and forgotten though. It's a weird I'm a SL roadster that wants to be a full size car type of deal. Love the styling of it. The cat ear headrests and when you're behind the wheel the dash and controls feel like you're sitting in a old fighter jet. Mine had a 5 speed Manual tranny but idk if it was stock or if someone modded it. Very fast little car that just oozed nostalgia and soul but it was a project I got way over my head on. Mine was silver with blue leather. Wish I still had it,
That one has the mechanical CIS K-Jet F.I. , 1974 & earlier had the Bosch electronic D-Jetronic F.I. , more power but it could be troublesome if you played with or neglected it . If you ever get to try an SL/SLC , be _SURE_ to jack it up and check the front suspension 'K' member *very* closely as they crack and the front wheels literally _fall_off_ , driving or parked . Heavy yes but the Euro Spec. D-Jet versions had 118 HP and all of it was on tap from 1,000 rpm to the crash . They handled far better than you can imagine unless you've driven one . One neat thing : they're designed to run 24/7 @ 125 MPH as long as you can take it . The U.S. versions only had a four speed slushbox , , Euro. Spec. versions could come with a four speed manual and there's a stock Mercedes 5 speed that's an easy up grade . Too bad I'll be busy planting Moms this weekend (she died) else I'd love to watch & see how it goes . I miss my '74 350SLC Euro terribly but it was a rusty P.O.C. and only got 15 MPG's maximum no matter what and if required high octane gas , ran terribly on pump regular so off it went . -Nate