Mercedes-Benz 420SL road trip: exploring Yorkshire’s Route YC

By Charlie Calderwood

| 3 Jun 2025

Classic & Sports Car – Mercedes-Benz 420SL in Yorkshire: exploring God’s own country

In this crowded corner of our busy world, you have to drive a long way to find a great road trip.

For most of us, it’s a hike just getting to the Scottish Highlands, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, the Alps or the Pyrenees.

Yet Route YC, newly marked out across Yorkshire by Tom Campbell, the brains behind Scotland’s NC500, promises 240 miles of some the UK’s best roads and prettiest countryside, and all within three hours of Birmingham and five of London.

Is the Mercedes-Benz 420SL the right classic car in which to explore the fun, attractive roads in the North York Moors?

So, what car to sample it in? It’s got to be sporty enough to enjoy, but I want neither my spine shaken by rock-hard suspension nor to sample the trip from a breakdown truck.

The right answer – from a number – is the R107 Mercedes-Benz SL.

Close to the start of Route YC is West Knapton’s Classic & Sportscar Centre, which has everything from an MG TC to a Chevrolet C10 pick-up – and this 1986 Mercedes 420SL.

Mercedes-Benz refreshed its SL line-up in the mid-1980s and created the 215bhp 420SL

The R107 generation was launched back in 1971, so you could have called it a bit old-hat by 1986.

Experiments with mid-engined chassis, Wankel engines and turbos had put off the convertible’s replacement, but so had the car’s modernity at the time of its release.

Borrowing both the trailing-arm rear suspension and V8 engines developed for the W116 S-Class put the R107 years ahead of its contemporaries.

Major updates came in 1980, with alloy V8s from the new W126 S-Class, while a final revision in ’86 brought styling tweaks and enlargement of the mid-range model’s V8 to create the Mercedes-Benz 420SL.

Route YC is a six-part road trip that links some of Yorkshire’s most stunning scenery and charming towns

Route YC isn’t a traditional straight-line or circular route; think of it instead as six loops in a chain, with each doable at a leisurely pace in a day or so.

I’ve got time for two of them, and I’m going to focus on the northernmost pair, which go around Whitby and Scarborough, tackling them in that order.

The nearby village of Thornton-le-Dale – home to Mathewsons Auctions of Bangers & Cash – is where we say goodbye to dense habitation for the afternoon.

The Mercedes-Benz 420SL’s restrained, comfortable interior

The A169 north, initially lined by fields of crops, slowly begins to climb into the North York Moors National Park.

Finally, as you turn through the dramatic hairpin at Saltergate, north-east England’s answer to California’s infamous Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, the rugged moorland opens up in front of you.

Quickly gone are the neat arable farms, replaced by scrubby, windswept heather, dry stone walls and sheep at pasture.

Surrounded by gloriously stark scenery, as well as the sci-fi-looking monolith of RAF Fylingdales’ radar tower, on a bright morning this fast road across the top of the moors would be perfect for a high-geared V8 such as the 420SL, but in the middle of the day the A169 is too busy to enjoy properly.

Route YC’s northernmost loop incorporates the North York Moors, elegant Whitby, forests, waterfalls and the picture-perfect Robin Hood’s Bay

It’s a relief to take the left across a cattle grid heading towards Goathland, where we’ll pick up the Whitby circuit of Route YC.

Straight away the roads are twistier and less busy, but still very scenic.

Ducking under a bridge carrying the North York Moors Railway as a train passes overhead, we’re into some proper bends at last.

The SL corners with complete composure and the rear axle refuses to be unsettled, but I’m a bit frustrated by it at this early stage.

‘Our’ Mercedes-Benz 420SL drives under a stretch of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway as a Class 31 diesel locomotive passes overhead

The oversquare V8 is mated to a long-geared four-speed automatic transmission, and I’m finding that it changes up just as soon as the engine starts to provide real torque and noise.

It robs me of what should be a more entertaining – and louder – experience in an open-top, rear-wheel-drive, V8 sports car.

The SL’s ease of use and drivability are undeniable so far, but it’s hard to access the sporting part of its brief.

The roads get quieter the farther west you go from here, with tight ribbons of asphalt in the valleys and faster, straighter routes across the tops of the moors.

‘The roads get quieter from here, with tight ribbons of asphalt in the valleys and faster, straighter routes across the moors’

It’s worth leaving the official Route YC for a bit and exploring some of these fantastic roads, in one of the few places left in England that resembles a wilderness.

Wheedale Road takes you right over the crest of the moors, while Smith’s Lane and Hunt House Road are vivid in their isolation.

Instead of looping up through Staithes to Whitby – it looks like a route to make a circle for the sake of it – we further deviate from the plan by doubling back to have more time on the moors.

It then takes us past the trapped-in-the-’50s coffee shops, stores and tearooms of Goathland – scene of Heartbeat’s fictional Aidensfield – before a descent off the moors towards Whitby.

Visiting Goathland’s quaint shops

Our stop for the night is The Stables, a hotel in a 17th-century farmhouse on the edge of the historic town, and it’s designed for trippers, whether by car or by bicycle.

The elegant Victorian mansions of Whitby wouldn’t look out of place in Kensington, while a more traditional fishing town straddles the mouth of the river Esk.

Above it tower the ruins of Whitby Abbey.

Raided first by Vikings and later Henry VIII, it is one of the most panoramic points in England today and enjoys convenient parking that provides easy access to the town’s charismatic, Grade I-listed 199 steps that connect the Abbey to the town down below.

The Mercedes-Benz 420SL parked outside The Stables, on the outskirts of Whitby

Beyond Whitby, the cliffs are high and the road set back, so to get proper sight of the sea you have to park and do the last bit on foot – or visit one of the sections where the cliffs drop away.

The most famous of these is Robin Hood’s Bay, a picture-postcard fishing village built around a single steep road that’s barely two cars wide, and which winds back and forth as it descends to the small beach.

You can dip back into the lower parts of the moors easily while roughly following the coast – and there are rewards if you do.

Forests and tight, craggy valleys, as well as waterfalls and dramatic viaducts, sit between the hills.

The scenic Abbey ruins overlook Whitby

Falling Foss is one of the prettiest falls and among the most accessible, with a car park nearby and a pleasant café just next to it.

It’s on these roads I finally get to grips with how to get the best out of this Mercedes-Benz 420SL.

After some experimentation, I have discovered the gearbox is in ‘Standard’ mode not when the switch is pushed towards the ‘S’ label, but when the ‘S’ is exposed.

Toggle it the wrong way and the recalcitrance of the gearbox in ‘Economy’ mode is infuriatingly inflexible: it simply refuses to kick down without sinking your foot into the carpet and does its best to make a 4.2-litre V8 behave like a four-pot.

‘Route YC is a relief and a real treat for those stuck doing most of their driving in the Home Counties or the West Midlands’

Negotiate that hurdle, however, and the SL’s glorious motor can finally be enjoyed.

Though torquey in the mid-range, it’s an engine that really loves to rev.

I can’t help feeling that most of these M116 units rarely get to fully open their lungs, stuck as they are in chauffeur-driven S-Class limousines that are knocked into ‘D’ and forgotten about.

But when forced to climb to high revs they really sing and properly pull.

I take to holding the car in second and third: it’s relatively easy to do once you’re practised with the gearshift.

The Mercedes-Benz 420SL’s transmission has a crucial Standard/Economy switch, which unshackles the V8 engine

Sophisticated suspension allows you to hustle the big Merc along with scant regard for the road surface, although its soft springing means you have to slow down for corners more than you might expect – if you want to avoid dragging the doorhandles across the Tarmac, that is.

Fortunately, the brakes are exceptionally strong, this being from the era of pioneering Mercedes-Benz safety.

Eventually, you’re forced off the fun roads and back on to the A171.

At points, this is the only north-south road between the coast and the heights of the moors, and although it’s nice enough, it doesn’t compare to those on top of the hills yesterday.

Robin Hood’s Bay is tight and narrow

At peak times, you will be held up by slow caravans and cars with tissue boxes on their parcel shelves – the same as on much of Scotland’s NC500, in fairness.

Heading towards the bright lights of Scarborough, you can divert on to the forested Reasty Hill to make things a bit more interesting, where there are also some attractive car parks that are excellent for road-trip group photos or a picnic.

Scarborough has two long, broad beaches separated by the castle ruins in the middle.

The coastal promenade finally puts you right on the waterfront for the first section in this drive, hugging the headland beneath the old fort before depositing you on the brightly lit and bustling seaside strip.

The Mercedes-Benz 420SL bumbles along Scarborough’s lively seafront

The town’s arcades, mini-golf courses, funfair rides and bars no doubt offer more to families, but romantic couples seeking peace might be best sticking to the more restrained elegance of Whitby.

Scarborough’s Victorian centre is grander than the town can really afford to maintain, but one recently renovated inn is the Bike & Boot, an activity-focused hotel (that basically means pictures of bicycles on the wall and lots of granola for breakfast) just behind the landmark Grand Hotel.

It’s a stately 19th-century building, with parking on the terrace overlooking the beach in one direction and the iron arches of the Cliff Bridge on the other.

Scarborough Castle is a brilliant final stop of the day, and, with the sunset casting a golden glow from this vantage point, it’s hard to argue with why the spot was chosen for a holiday town – whatever you make of its slightly garish seafront.

The forested, hilly lanes behind Scarbrough are a maze, while the town itself is a mixture of traditional seaside resort and ancient history. The roads open out into pleasant countryside further south

The best way to approach this trip is to plan on getting up early to enjoy the most popular places at their quietest.

As most holidaymakers are waking up, we’re already on the way out and relishing the winding forested roads in the hills behind the town.

The phone signal is quickly lost and we accidentally end up on the Dalby Forest Drive, a £10 toll road that winds through the woodland.

Great if you can stop for a walk, bike ride or picnic, but even just as a drive it’s a superb diversion.

The Bike & Boot hotel sits on a terrace above Cliff Bridge in Scarborough

You pass through dense, lofty conifers that bring the forests of North America to mind, all on a quiet, perfectly surfaced road.

There’s a tame 30mph speed limit (this is no boy-racer’s paradise), but the road is so narrow you wouldn’t want to go much faster.

After half an hour, with a few stops, it spits us out where we started, back at Thornton-le-Dale.

That serendipitous drive through Dalby Forest demonstrates that, in its strictest, official form, the Route YC is a road trip designed for general tourists and sightseeing rather than petrolheads.

The Mercedes-Benz 420SL’s M116 engine sits snug in the engine bay

Its focus is not on picking the best driving roads in the area, but linking up points of interest; many times the official route runs close to – but does not take up – some very good roads.

Where Route YC succeeds is in bringing to your attention some great drives in this part of Yorkshire, especially if you’re willing to use it as a stepping-off point to explore away from the prescribed plan.

It can’t quite match the extremes of isolation and rugged scenery that the NC500 offers along its best bits, but it’s a relief and a treat nonetheless for those stuck doing most of their day-to-day driving in the Home Counties or the West Midlands.

Dalby Forest Drive is pricey, but provides a serenity not easily found on UK roads

So, yes, look at the Route YC map, pick the attractions and points you are most interested in and follow the general directions, but make sure you divert deeper into the North York Moors for at least an hour, and when the route map suggests the obvious main road, take the winding one that runs parallel to it instead.

Do that, and there is a fantastic road trip to be had.

And what of the Mercedes? Switch between an R107 and a contemporary Chevrolet Corvette or Porsche 911 – also sporting yet comfortable tourers – on a great road and you’ll likely never pick the Benz.

This classic Mercedes enjoys the winding forest roads

But that idealised scenario isn’t how we actually experience our cars.

We live with them, and the longer I spend with the 420SL, the more I come to appreciate it.

Quite simply, it does the basic car stuff better than any automotive peer of its era.

It’s like a restomod that came from the factory in the way it combines classic looks with a supremely easy driving experience.

The ergonomics are sorted, it’s well equipped, easy to get into and out of, and feels super-solidly built.

The Mercedes-Benz 420SL parked on Scarborough causeway

These aren’t the most exciting cars, but, day to day, those qualities count a lot more than cornering g-forces, and they keep spirits up, energy high and backsides comfortable on road trips.

A Mercedes-Benz SL never makes you feel tired or stressed; in fact, it’s a relief to return to.

And, with that lazy gearbox circumvented, it has enough pep and character to offer plenty of fun on a great road when you reach it.

Add in the huge boot and a convertible top that’s easy to lower and raise (whether powered or not), and this really is one of the ultimate road-trip classic cars.

Images: Max Edleston

Thanks to: Classic & Sportscar Centre for the loan of the Mercedes-Benz; The Stables; Bike & Boot hotel. For more information about Route YC, visit routeyc.co.uk or find it on Facebook and Instagram

The rest of Route YC

From Whitby to Withernsea, Route YC covers Yorkshire’s coastline in six segments

Filey
The roads flatten out considerably south of Scarborough, with quiet country lanes between stone walls and hedges the order of the day on the Filey route. It’s one for the beach lovers, whether at Hunmanby Gap or Filey sands.

Bridlington
Along with more countryside driving, the Bridlington route has extra historical appeal thanks to Bridlington Old Town and Flamborough Castle. The coastline becomes more dramatic once again at the Flamborough Cliffs, which are peppered by small bays.

Hornsea
Fast, straight roads through the countryside and following the broad beaches along the coast dominate the Hornsea section, making this another attraction for seaside fans.

Withernsea
Things become a bit wilder, and often windier, on the Withernsea route, with Spurn Point a must-visit. This long sandbar juts out into the North Sea at the mouth of the Humber – you can walk out to Easington Lighthouse, or book a guided ‘Spurn Safari’ that takes you on to the beach in the back of an old Mercedes Unimog.

Factfile

Mercedes-Benz 420SL

Sold/number built 1971-’89/237,287 (all R107s)
Construction steel monocoque
Engine all-alloy, sohc-per-bank 4196cc V8, Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection
Max power 215bhp @ 5200rpm
Max torque 243lb ft @ 3750rpm
Transmission four-speed automatic, RWD
Suspension independent, at front by double wishbones rear semi-trailing arms; coil springs, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar f/r
Steering power-assisted recirculating ball
Brakes discs, with servo and ABS
Length 14ft 5in (4394mm)
Width 5ft 10in (1790mm)
Height 4ft 3in (1306mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 1in (2454mm)
Weight 3527lb (1600kg)
0-60mph 8.5 secs
Top speed 132mph
Mpg 24
Price new £30,610 (1986)
Price now £15-50,000*