Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sun 3 Jun 2018 20:10
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - dan86

Some of you may remember my mum inherited a 1962 300 sl roadster. Today was the first drive it has had since being stored for the winter. Over the winter myself and a friend converted her to EFI from mechanical injection (old bits put in box for storage). Full services done last weekend even though it had done less than 1k miles since being brought back on the road seeming as it can't do any harm. Fresh petrol in the tank and she fired in to life.

Lovely drive around the kent country side stopping at a pub on the old A20 for a spot of lunch. Many people asking about the car. Was asked by someone if I was willing to sell but seen as it's not mine I'm not in the position to sell.

Out of curiosity what do back roomers think it could be worth?

It was mechanically ok when it was inherited but body work and interior was a bit tatty but is now looking in good condition after some tlc.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 20:41
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - barney100

Suggest contacting the Mercedes owner's club and they may be able to help.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 20:55
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - dan86

Good idea thanks

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 21:03
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - badbusdriver

I have just been reading an article in the May issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine which features one. Introduced in 1957 to replace the legendary 'gulllwing', it was in production till 1963 (1858 built). If this is what we are talking about it is an extremely valuable car and as such, changing anything away from standard spec is really not wise.

It is worth £800k plus.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 22:07
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - dan86

The only thing changed was the fuel injection system to make it more reliable and more drivable and like I said I have kept everything that I took off so it can be replaced if necessary.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 22:39
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - badbusdriver

If properly set up, the Bosch mechanical fuel injection system on these are very reliable and make the car extremely easy to drive, unlike multi cylinder, multi carbed Italian contemporaries. There are specialists out there who could deal with this if you can't, so there is no valid reason for changing the mechanical specification of such a magnificent machine.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 22:31
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - SLO76
If this is what you mean then it’s a massively valuable car and needs specialist assessment and valuation. www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C836848

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 3 Jun 2018 22:51
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - RichardW

Practical classics price guide ( tinyurl.com/yawclvbe) suggests it could be worth 7 figures....! As SLO76 says, you would want to get it properly valued before selling it to some guy down the pub.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 05:35
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - dan86
If this is what you mean then it’s a massively valuable car and needs specialist assessment and valuation. www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C836848

Yes it is one of those a roadster in red with matching red interior.

It's not going to be sold as it's not mine until I inherit it but even then I doubt it will be sold l. I was just curious about it's price. There is a guy in Blackheath who restores classic cars I might pop in and see him about it as he is verry knowledgeable on this sort of matter.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 08:31
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - SLO76
I wouldn’t go tinkering with it or changing the origional specification any further as it will have a negative effect on that value. People want originality with high end classics like this.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 10:42
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - dan86

Everything baring the fuel injection is original and that's why I kept all the old fuel injection bits so if we ever do sell it it can be put back on there. It took us a few weekends to do the work.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 13:24
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - catsdad
What a wonderful car.
As you are musing as to value this suggests you haven't got it adequately insured against true cost of loss? i suggest you get it on an agreed value insurance ASAP that directly covers all those who drive it and ensure its very securely garaged.
Cars like this are vulnerable to being stolen to order.
Having said all that its great to hear its being used and enjoyed.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 13:41
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - skidpan

I had a 1986 Golf GTi with Bosch mechanical fuel injection. Never gave any trouble whatsoever and the power spread was very impressive. Only issue I had was pinking under load with a hot engine after a motorway run, a rebuilt distributor did not fix it, I blamed it on the octane in ye olde leaded petol decreasing from when the car was made.

Replaced it with an identical but newer car fitted with Bosch Digifant electronic fuel injection. Main advantage was the car would run on any fuel available, even leaded since the car had no factory cat fitted. Power and torque figures quoted were identical but at higher revs. The car drove totally different to the original, much reduced low down grunt, felt much slower unless you gave it higher revs.

Missed the original car.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 20:51
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - dan86
What a wonderful car. As you are musing as to value this suggests you haven't got it adequately insured against true cost of loss? i suggest you get it on an agreed value insurance ASAP that directly covers all those who drive it and ensure its very securely garaged. Cars like this are vulnerable to being stolen to order. Having said all that its great to hear its being used and enjoyed.

It is indeed stored in a very secure garage with heating during the winter fully alarmed and has cctv and secrity lighting. Plus as added security I remove the rotor arm from the distributor as well.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 13:37
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - RichardW

You're a lucky man!

However, you might want to consider persuading your Mum to pass it on early, so it potentially comes under the 7 year rule for inheritance tax, otherwise Mr Tax Man is going to have a huge bite out of it when the time does sadly come.....

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 4 Jun 2018 23:52
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL roadster - First drive if the year - Avant

Excellent advice there from Richard W - I was thinking the same.

If the car isn't going to be sold, and you hang onto the original parts for replacing if it had to be sold, it seems to me you;ve done the right thing in updating the fuel injection. A car like that is there to be driven and enjoyed, not kept as a museum-piece.

Good luck with it!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link