I really love this car and I wanted to share this review with you guys,

YouTube - Mercedes-Benz 280 SL - Pagoda W113

 

I am a huge 280SL fan. When I was a senior in HS (1985) my dad bought a fully restored 280SL to use as a DD. It was absolutely spectacular maroon over black. It had a freshly rebuilt motor and trans and the body & interior were perfect. The inline 6 was a peppy motor and made a nice growl. He drove it to work every day, to the store, etc, etc, etc.

When I was home for summer from college, he would let me drive it from time to time. It would chirp the 1-2 shift on full throttle starts. It steered like a truck, which seemed odd for such a small care, but I really didn't care.

He decided to sell it around 15 years ago, and offered it to me for 15k. Being the stupid 28 year old fool I was at the time, I did not buy it from him. Not a day has gone by in the past 5 to 10 years when I didn't wish I had bought it from him.

Long story short. I love 280 SL's and they will always have special place in my heart. I know I will own one again some day soon.

 

I had the opportunity to see a very clean car, its my uncle's car and he is the first owner. The car is parked for over 10 years, I told him you've got this car and you dont drive it; its a classic and I absolutely love it. Its a Maroon over Beige and a manual gearbox.

 

Love these cars. I was actually asked to shoot a group of 20-30 of these little 280SL's together in a couple of weeks but I have a prior engagement. I'm still going to try to squeeze it in though.

 

^Hopefully you'll get to drive one Al. The automatic trans on them is a 4 speed, and 1st gear is really low. It always starts in 2nd, unless you put the lever in low or floor it from a standstill. It can feel sort of gutless starting in 2nd, but is pretty snappy when you start it in 1st. That tranny shifts pretty hard, so you can get a nice chirp on the 1-2 upshift if you floor it.

 

Great review. A good commentary on the older SL's. But then, I'm a little biased.

 

Always loved them. So simple yet elegant and classy.

 

Hang on a second, I just listened to what he said as opposed to just drooling over the footage like I did the first time. 170 hp and it barely moves?!? Exactly how much does that thing weigh?

 

I just saw a Silver one like the on in the video whilst being lost in Nottinghill.

 

Hoping to purchase one sometime in the near future, want to put a S500 engine in it and the 90's AMG monoblock wheels from the R129 SL.