Junkyard Find: 1977 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

The value of a Mercedes-Benz R107/C107 goes down to a hair’s-breadth over scrap price once it becomes non-perfect, and so it’s no surprise that these things have been quite common in American self-serve wrecking yards for the last couple of decades. We’ve seen this ’80 450SL, this ’74 450SL, and this ’78 450SLC so far in this series, and here’s a ’77 450SLC that I spotted in the San Francisco Bay Area last year. Such luxury, such status! It almost makes me want to pick up a cheap SLC for myself.

If you were a fairly successful cocaine dealer in Los Angeles, circa 1977, this was the car made for you. About the only competition was the new BMW E24.

This car racked up a mere 182,138 miles during its 36 years on the street. The body is completely rust-free and the interior probably wasn’t bad before junkyard customers started prying parts off it.

Nobody ever buys these OHC V8s at junkyards. Poor unloved old Mercedes.





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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  • Davew833 Davew833 on May 09, 2014

    Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah, I always thought it would be cool to own an "SLC". I liked the body style better than the SL convertible. I imagine I'd have been disappointed by the performance though. My mom had a 1977 W116 280SE-- I imagine the driving experience would have been similar.

  • HotPotato HotPotato on May 23, 2014

    My parents liked big cars. When the OPEC embargo happened and gas was (semi) rationed, people were practically giving away gas guzzling V8 luxury cars. As we lived in a small city where not many miles were required to get around, my parents jumped at the chance. Mom got a '68 Continental. Dad got a '73 450SEL. Both cars got 10 MPG. Just like buying a used BMW 750il for a song today, the Merc was a fool's bargain. Probably could have bought a crappy used car every year for what it cost to keep the Merc running, and in typical style for a German car of the day, the air conditioning was 100% ineffective. Also, all the "power" accessories were vacuum-operated, so one cracked vacuum hose underhood could mean the power locks going crazy on the freeway. But my God the thing was handsome, even with the weird 1973 stacked bumpers.

  • MaintenanceCosts People who don't use the parking brake when they walk away from the car deserve to have the car roll into a river.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I’m sure they are good vehicles but you can’t base that on who is buying them. Land Rovers, Bentley’ are bought by Robin Leaches’s “The Rich and Famous” but they have terrible reliability.
  • SCE to AUX The fix sounds like a bandaid. Kia's not going to address the defective shaft assemblies because it's hard and expensive - not cool.
  • Analoggrotto I am sick and tired of every little Hyundai Kia Genesis flaw being blown out of proportion. Why doesn't TTAC talk about the Tundra iForce Max problems, Toyota V35A engine problems or the Lexus 500H Hybrid problems? Here's why: education. Most of America is illiterate, as are the people who bash Hyundai Kia Genesis. Surveys conducted by credible sources have observed a high concentration of Hyundai Kia Genesis models at elite ivy league universities, you know those places where students earn degrees which earn more than $100K per year? Get with the program TTAC.
  • Analoggrotto NoooooooO!
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