Lot Ended
Description
Just four owners and 79k miles from new; fantastic service
history; a wonderful example of one of the best Mercs ever made!
This
fine-looking Mercedes-Benz 500SL comes with an exemplary history file from new
and has covered just 79,080 miles in the hands of four meticulous owners. It has
been serviced at least 19 times to date, the last only 2,500 miles ago in
December 2021, and has led a charmed life, as you will see if you keep
reading.
Correspondence on file shows that it
was bought new in January 1987 from
Clover Leaf Cars of Odiham, Hants, by a Mr Williams as a 25th wedding
anniversary present for his wife. She was to keep the car for the next 26 years
by which time it had covered 63,964 miles, the service book showing that it was
serviced 13 times during this period – an average service interval of 4,900
miles. Mrs Williams gave up driving in 2002 and the car sat unused in her
dehumidified garage for the next 11 years.
In
June 2013 she sold the Mercedes to a local friend and dealer, Outwood Cars of
Ampfield, Hants. They spent over £7,000 getting the car recommissioned by a
factory-trained Mercedes-Benz technician. This included a full service; new
radiator; new viscous coupling; new under-bonnet sound deadening; complete
overhaul of the air con system; 5 new tyres; wheels refurbished; a new Alpine CD
tuner and speakers; minor paintwork correction plus various other bits and bobs.
The mileage at this point was 63,967.
In
September 2013 Outwood sold the car to a collector, Mr Jerome of Radlett, Herts,
who first commissioned a pre-sale inspection by CarSurveys of Woking. They gave
the car a glowing report which concluded: “Pricey but exceptional car. Likely to
sell way ‘over book’ in view of history and provenance”. Correspondence on file
from Mr Jerome states that he had looked at many other 500SLs before settling on
this one, which was by far the best he had seen.
In May 2014, after covering only 300 miles in the car, a new
business venture compelled him to part with the SL which was then bought by
another collector, Mr Frost of Portman Square in Central London, who owned
several other classic Mercs. He kept the car for the next four years, having it
religiously maintained by Mercedes specialist John Haynes of Worthing.
This included a 12,000 mile service in October
2014 at c.68,000 miles which cost over £3,000, followed by another minor service
in April 2015. In February 2016 at 69,117 miles it had another 6,000 mile
service, and then again in March 2017 at 69,323 miles when it also got new
engine and gearbox mountings, new front subframe mountings, new rear
dampers and a re-set of the steering geometry at a cost of
£2,626.
Our vendor (the 4th owner)
acquired the car from John Haynes in May 2018 when it had covered 69,515 miles,
the purchase invoice showing that it cost £45,000 which included yet another
12,000 mile service and a re-gas of the air con – that makes five services in
only 1,500 miles!
In December 2021 at 76,517
miles, the car was treated to yet another service by Car Master Garage of
Shrewsbury which cost over £1,500 and included having the exhaust manifolds
ceramic coated. It has only covered 2,500 miles since.
Finished in Astral Silver, it has sports front seats plus optional
rear seats in Navy Blue leather, cruise control, air con and an Alpine CD
system. The hard top is in excellent condition, as is the navy blue soft top
which is the original one fitted from new and has clearly barely, if ever, been
used (Mrs Williams never took the hard top off, apparently). It is powered by
the legendary 5.0 V8 M117 engine which produced 241bhp and 296lb/ft of torque
mated to 4-speed automatic transmission, sufficient to whisk the car to 60mph in
7 seconds with a top speed of 140mph.
As you
can see in the photos, this pampered Merc is in lovely condition with a nicely
patinated interior and retains all its original handbooks in the original
wallet. Starting promptly and running beautifully as we have moved it around on
site, it has an MOT until 23rd September 2024 with no advisories
recorded.
On offer here at substantially less than our vendor paid for
it only six years ago, it is a car that any of us would be proud to own.
For more information contact James on
07970 309907 or email [email protected]
* All charges are subject to VAT