Junkyard Find: 1974 Mercedes-Benz 450SL

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

When I lived in California, I’d see R107s in self-service junkyards all the time; since moving to Denver a couple of years back, I see them only occasionally. There was this ’78 450SLC last summer and that was about it. Last week, though I found this screaming yellow Malaise Era kokainwagen.

This one entered the used-parts ecosystem in fairly beat/rusty condition (yes, Midwesterners, I know this is amateur-grade rust), and quite a few bits have already been picked from it.

I like these cars so much that I’ve been trying to buy the Rally Baby Racing ’75 450SL (which is street-licensed) for the last ten months. It’s a slow and heavy race car, but would look great on the street.

This engine would look great in a fenderless ’39 Opel, ja?







Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

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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  • Sector 5 Sector 5 on Jan 12, 2013

    450SL an icon in its day.. The first owner rolled around the summer of 74 with the unescapable news of a disgraced president playing out on the radio, In 74 British Leyland would have liked you believe their Triumph Stag a worthy contender. Build quality & brand duration not even close. I would have desired balloon whitewalls & color-coded hubs with that yellow more than euro-spec bumpers.

  • StaysCrunchy StaysCrunchy on Jan 14, 2013

    Since I'm too lazy to search for the answer myself, do people ever do SBC swaps in these cars? I always liked this body style, but I can't imagine 35+ year old Mercedes-Benz V8's are easy to work on or find parts for.

    • See 1 previous
    • Felix Hoenikker Felix Hoenikker on Jan 14, 2013

      Except for an occasional part, OEM parts are relatively cheap and avialble for vintage MBs. Some examples I bought include a rebuilt Bosch starter motor- $85. Don't even ask about how difficult it was to swap; a rebuilt master brake cylinder - $45; Bosch spark plug wire set - $80; valve cover gaskets - $20 each, fuel injectors -$80ea, etc. Other parts can be very expensive. For example a rebuilt fuel injection computer will cost $1200, and an electronic ignition modulle is about $600. Overall, not an exepensive car to maintain if you stay away from the MB dealer

  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
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