I visited Mercedes World in Weybridge on Tuesday, for my annual indulgence of thrashing about the rack track in a high-speed Mercedes for an hour. A wonderful place for any Mercedes enthusiast about 30 minutes out of London by train. They currently have two W113’s on display. An immaculate 280SL (photo attached) and a rather scruffy 230SL (not worth a photo) both of which attract a lot of attention from visitors. The old still have class.
For those genuinely interested, the Curator (Richard I believe his name was) is most charming, very knowledgeable and even prepared to open up some of these cars so you on check finishing details etc. Lovely people and great outing for the whole family.
On this particular trip I gifted myself an “SLS Experience” which is a chance to do ridiculously illegal speeds in a brand new 700hp SLS supercar on a closed race track. To ensure you are not going to kill yourself, spectators or the car, they test you first in the new SL AMG, the current iteration of our W113, then if you can handle the power and the speed, you swap over to the amazing gull-winged SLS. Fabulous fun, so if you get the chance, give yourself a treat.
While in London I also called in one of UK’s larger Classic Car dealers to see what W113’s they had on offer. They had 3 ranging between £35-55,000 but I was amazed just how scruffy and tired these vehicles seemed for the money. Makes mine look mint in comparison.
Jeff (now back in Australia)
