Real bargains because they made so many of these for many years. There is a huge variety of engines and other features. Do your research. The W107 series includes a 280SL, 300SL. 350SL, 380SL, 420SL 450SL, 500SL, 560SL also the 350SLC, 380SLC 450SLC, and the 500SLC . Unfortunately, all except the early W107s sold in the US had the large ugly rubber safety bumpers. European delivery cars had the more desirable small chrome bumpers. There is also a wide variation in horsepower. The mid 70s US emission models V-8s were hard on fuel, only 175 hp,had a catalytic converter were heavy and more complex.
The series was one of the most successful sports cars ever, with over a quarter million units produced. Models with the cast iron v-8s were heavy handling compared to the six cylinder and aluminum V-8s. Some were available with four or five speed transmissions. Don't dis-regard the six cylinders which were very responsive and lighter handling. One of the most desirable and hardest to find is the 300SL in the W107 chassis. "85-89". It had a modern 192 hp straight six cylinder engine and could be had with a five speed std. transmission. However only 13,000 units were produced, so these could be hard to find. The 500SL (alumn.V-8) was the fastest with 240 hp and 7.4 zero to sixty time. The early version 350SLs are also desirable. They were simpler with very little emission devices and had the pretty early small chrome bumpers.
The ones to stay away from are the mid 70s US emission models with the cast iron V-8s. In general the V-8s are hard on gas and a little heavy handling. The six cylinders are very popular but never sold new in the US. Problem areas are the US Climate Control systems, US 380SLs with single row timing chains and rust from cold salty winters.
I like the earliest, the six cylinders the 500SLs and 560SLs, especially the 300SL. The models with the small chrome bumpers look the best. Do your research on this model there is quite a variety to choose from
