As part of the celebrations for the model, the Mercedes Benz Club decided to attempt driving 107 107’s across the Harbor Bridge.   According to club officials, the 107 is the most popular model in the club.   That meant we may be in with a shot!  It was still going to be a big ask.   There were less than 3,000 107 models ever sold in Australia, broken down as follows:

R107:

• 280SL (74-75): ?
• 350SL (72-75): 311
• 450SL (73-80): 395
• 380SL (81-85): 549
• 560SL (86-89): 255

C107:

• 280SLC (74-75): ?
• 350SLC (72-75): 273
• 450SLC (73-80): 793

I don’t have numbers for official 280 imports, but since they were offered for such a short time, It can’t be too many.   In those years there were three models offered simultaneously, which would have depressed numbers of individual models.

For the R107s, the 300SL, 420SL and 500SL were never sold in Australia.   The 500SL was a common import during the 81-85 years when the 380 was the largest variety on sale.   The 300SL and 420SL are rare, although there was a 300SL on the day.    For the C107s, the 380SLC and 450SLC 5.0/500SLC were never sold in Australia, with the 450 5.0/500 never manufactured in right hand drive at all.   The private import market was pretty good, so I would imagine another couple of hundred came in that way.

The 350 models have not survived in big numbers in Australia, but the rest of the cars were well represented on the day.

The drive started in a parking lot at a boat ramp near the airport.   That would give the convoy a straight shot with no traffic lights onto the eastern distributor and then the bridge itself.   Keeping a convoy of 107 107’s together was not going to be easy – especially on a busy road like the Harbour Bridge.  Even with tight spacing that is still a 1.6 kilometer convoy.    This proved to be the case as there was a constant stream of gormless SUVs pushing to the line.

The weather in Sydney has been terrible these last two weeks and I was wondering what the attendance was going to be like.   The 107 crowd is particularly sensitive to rain.  Not only are a good proportion of them convertibles, but they will rust away in front of your eyes.   The rain held off and we had a pretty good turn out.   I didn’t make a count at the start, but at the end we had 47 107s.

The ending point was a park in lane cove where we had a really good line up of the cars.   Coincidently, I ended up next to two other 906G Silver Grey 450SLCs.   There was a prize that went to the only 300SL in attendance.  A particularly nice car in UK spec with signal red paint and the cloth interior that was never offered in Australia.

This was the first event that I had my SLC after all the work I have done recently.   It drives much better with the new subframe mounts, the A/C no longer leaks all over the passengers floor and I’m really happy with the looks and driving feel of the 15″ Penta Wheels. I was still re-fitting the carpets and under dash panels at 10pm the night before.     I did find a new problem though, the spring in the handbrake is rattling in the drivers side rear.

We didn’t end up getting 107 107’s over the bridge, but it must have been quite a sight seeing such a big group of the cars driving along.  For starters, the 107 was available in colours, not just shades of grey like most modern cars.

Update:  One of our club members posted a video from an overpass as the cars passed.   I counted 47 cars over the bridge on that video too.    Not a bad effort.

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Lot 62:  1962 Jaguar E-Type 3.8 OTS

This is a nice looking 3.8 E-Type, with a guiding price of $185,000-$210,000.   It is a nice example and they will probably get it.   E-Types have shot up incredibly in the last few years.  While higher values mean they get saved, it also means many are now in the hands of speculators rather than enthusiasts.

Lot 59:  1975 Mercedes-Benz 450SL

At first some may run away scared with around 450,000 on the clock.   However, with all the work done this car may be good buying.   It is a really period colour (Silver Green) which is not to everyone’s taste, but is in great condition.   The asking price of $28,000-$35,000 is not unreasonable, but the odometer may put some off.

Lot 50: 1998 BMW 840Ci Coupe

The 8 series doesn’t have the same fan base of the earlier 6er, but to me is the most striking BMW to come out of the 90s.   Potentially the E39 M5 may be a better car to live with, but the 8 series has the looks and the V8 is reportedly less problematic than the V12.   The car is estimated at $25,000-$30,000

Lot 52: 1960 Jaguar XK150 FHC

The XK’s used to be similar money to the E-Type, but not anymore.    This nice 3.8 had a guiding range of $85,000-$95,000.   Personally, I prefer the XK140, but the 150 has the advantage of the 3.8 engine and is probably a more usable car.   British Racing Green is probably the best colour for these.   Lighter colours can make them look like a jellybean.

Lot 67:  1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II

The guiding range of $35,000-$50,000 may attract some to what is an extremely desirable pre-war Rolls Royce.   Having sat there since at least the 80s, I suspect the cost to just mechanically recommission this car would be astronomical.   After that you’re still stuck with a fairly dowdy re-body from the 60s.  Apparently there is a photo in the Phantom II book of the original and more attractive body.

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The 560SL was sold between 1986 and 1989 in the third ‘series’ of the model.   It was a model only sold in the USA, Australia and Japan, primarily because the emissions regulations of these countries had taken too much of a toll on the smaller engined cars.    However, by the third series, the R107 was showing its age.   Like other cars such as the De Tomaso Pantera and the Lamborghini Countach, Mercedes-Benz felt they needed to ‘tart up’ the car for the late 80s.  This included things like a new front spoiler, in later years a boot mounted rear brake light.   Adding to the rear spoiler that appeared in the early 80s, it was all too much.   By the late 80s, the R107 had started looking like an actor/actress with too many facelifts.

In my view, the pick of the range was the 500SL from 1980-1989, especially with the rear spoiler delete option.    it is still close to the purity of the original design and actually has the most powerful engine.     This doesn’t make the 560SL a bad car by any means.   It’s just not the best of the series and not worth today’s price premium.   It would seem I am not the only person who thinks this way.

The table below shows when the models were offered and which ones were officially imported to Australia.   All models were made in right hand drive, and there are plenty of private imports about.    It should be noted that much of what is available on the Internet concerns USA models which were very different to their ‘rest of world’ counterparts.

Private imports are not worse, but it can be harder to trace history from before they are imported.   In addition, it’s not always consistent what was done to comply them with Australian regulations.

The R107 was sold from between 1971 and 1989 and it had multiple revisions over the years.  I think of it as 3.5 different series, even though Mercedes-Benz don’t refer to them as such.   All the models have their pros and cons, so lets take a look at them:

Series 1: 1971-1975 (280SL, 350SL, 450SL)

These cars are likely to be the closest to a simple roadster.   Its common to see cars with few options such as power windows, A/C and so on.   Early cars probably won’t even have headrests.    At least in Australia, they do not have any emissions gear, so retain their full power potential.   They run Bosch D-Jet fuel injection which was a very advanced system at the time, but needs to be worked on my an expert and some parts can be quite expensive now.

The very early 350SLs from 1971/72 have the old 4 speed transmission from the W108, which isn’t as strong as the later 3 speed unit but better suited to the 350 engine.

These cars are probably best as a weekend cruiser with their pure looks and full power, but the D-Jet injection can require special attention.

The the same time, Mercedes-Benz offered a coupe derivative, the SLC model with the same mechanical specifications as the roadster.

Series 1.5: 1976-1980 (280SL, 350SL, 450SL)

The main difference from the 1971-75 models is the D-Jet fuel injection was replaced by Bosch K-Jet (CIS) mechanical fuel injection.   The CIS system is simpler than D-Jet, parts are cheaper and most mechanics can service it.    In European markets, the CIS engines were only slightly less powerful.

In Australia the changeover almost coincided with the introduction of the misguided ADR27A pollution requirements.   These laws were based on California standards and had not been well thought through.   They focused on percentages of pollutants at idle that could be defeated by an extra air pump, and forced low compression ratios and retarded ignition timing.   Most owners simply removed the belt from the air pump. The retarded ignition meant fuel consumption was up by 10% burning more carbon dioxide than before.    The 450SL went from 165KW to 147KW for example.

The later series 1 cars tend to have more options fitted such as A/C and power windows than the early cars and can make very good buys.   They are not as fast as the later cars, but generally much cheaper.   The iron block v8’s and 3 speed transmissions are particularly bullet proof if the timing chain is taken care of.   As with all cars of this era, rust is the main problem, although not unique to this series.

The SLC models continued to be offered throughout this series.

Series 2: 1980-1985 (280SL, 380SL, 500SL)

In 1980 the 107’s had a major overhaul bringing them more into line with the W126 S class models.   The 280SL M110 engine continued as-is but the V8’s were increased in capacity and now featured a light alloy block and new four speed transmissions for significant performance improvements.   New options such as ABS brakes were also available.  The drivetrains are still extremely robust.   The alloy engines are much more expensive to rebuild and require specialist skills not needed for the iron block engines.

The 380SL has developed a poor reputation online due to the USA and Japan models having a single row timing chain that was prone to break.   While this chain was only for USA and Japan models, that hasn’t stopped internet myths running wild.

As mentioned above, in my mind the 500SL is the pick of the whole model range.    The run up in prices has started impacting the 1980-1985 models, but they are still much better value than the final models.

The SLC was offered until 1981 and then discontinued, to be replaced by C126.

Series 3: 1986-1989 (300SL, 420SL, 500SL, 560SL)

The changes for the final series were quite comprehensive and aimed to keep the R107 competitive while the R129 was finalized.  There were suspension and braking changes, and improvements to the interior appointments.   The wheel size went up to 15″ and the ‘manhole cover’ style wheels were popular.   They are much easier to keep clean, so are a popular retrofit to earlier models.   The V8 engines are basically the same, with slightly increased capacity and revised fuel injection (KE Jet instead of K Jet).  The 560SL is essentially a 500 with a longer stroke, but detuned for emissions.   The 300SL has the new M103 engine from the W124.   This engine is much more forgiving with emissions requirements than the old M110.

On the downside, this series had more done in terms of front spoilers, boot mounted rear brake lights and so on.    In some ways they are the pick of the bunch if price is not a factor.  In my opinion they are only slightly better than the cars that precede them.

The 560SL was made for low emissions markets, so it actually has less power than the 500SL.   The 420SL was not very popular and is the rarest of the model line up.

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