Equipment
Body color steel wheels and hubcaps, drivers side mirror, Becker radio. Owned by the original purchaser in California until 2005, then restored with 2007 work by M B Classic Center. Very good original paint, glossy and smooth. Chips around driver door handle, passenger door sill and drivers side trunk corner. Paint rubbed through on passenger side rear fender and leading edge of trunk. Engine bay and interior perfect. A great car for touring and rallies and proven on the Copperstate and California Mille in 2008.
Market commentary
This was a nice SL, as they all seem to be, but was caught in that awkward space between cosmetic restoration and original patina. The recent cosmetic restoration of the engine bay and interior combined with a largely unrestored exterior gave the car a strange disjointed appearance, as if everything save the exterior had existed in some sort of void while someone tediously rubbed through the red paint to the primer. Its still a 300 SL, and therefore no trivial thing, but where the next owner goes from here is hard to say. A full restoration would be pricey and a repaint would address only one of this cars needs. The Fashion Square bidders accorded it a generous price.