If you're in the market for an exceptional R107, we have what appears to be just that in today's find. Listed on Craigslist in Shoreview, Minnesota just a few days ago, is a beautiful Garnet Red Metallic (Otherwise referred to as Almandine) over Mushroom Leather 1989 Mercedes 560SL with just 41,000 miles. If you've been following the R107 market as closely as we have, you'd recognize that these cars have become sound investments over the last few years - we even ended up buying one ourselves. This particular 560SL has an asking price of $33,900 and appears to earn every bit of it.
Earlier this summer we set out on a mission to buy the best R107 we could find, and within a modest budget of $10k USD. After tirelessly going through every active listing at the time, we settled on what we considered to be the cleanest example available for the money. That car was a 1976 450SL finished in a very handsome Milan Brown Metallic over Bamboo Leather with 70,000 miles, and a good history of maintenance and safe-keeping. What we discovered, is that these cars are incredibly good fun on the road with a good balance of power delivery and ride comfort - what we would imagine a Runabout Boat would be if it were on land. we also discovered that the range of car you can end up buying (in terms of quality) within the same price-point is very broad. In other words, we found there to be a number of cars that would appear nearly identical on paper (model, mileage, asking price, even color), however when we went to see them in person, the quality and condition varied greatly.
It became clear to us, that the market on what these cars are valued at by their owners, is quite disconnected, and had all of them been in the same room, it would be clear that one stood head and shoulders above the rest. Definitely do some comparison shopping when you are looking at these, and we would recommend seeing at least 3-4 in person before taking the leap into ownership. Why did we share that awfully long story you ask? We felt it important to share this experience as there are usually a plethora of R107's available in the market, and it could become overwhelming to narrow down the results if you might not know what you are looking for. We, here at The MB Market, are here to help narrow down that search, which brings us back to this beautiful 560SL.
The final year of production on these cars is largely considered to be the most desirable in terms of collectability and value. Garnet Red was only offered on these final year cars according to the seller, which should only add to the rarity and collector value of this particular example. The car appears to be original in all aspects, and incredibly well maintained - at least from a cosmetic standpoint from what we can see. The owner has also included many original manuals and service booklets in the gallery, as well as the original hardtop and stand.
Additional notable items mentioned by the seller include recent and regular maintenance, a new soft top, and a new battery. The car is said to be rust free, and safely kept in a climate controlled facility, all things we love to hear in a potential purchase.
So if you happen to find yourself interested in purchasing the best SL your money can buy (Trailer queens excluded), we would highly recommend putting this one on your short list as it checks a tremendous number of boxes, and we are confident it will ultimately result in an ownership experience as positive as we've had with ours.
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