50 years of the Mercedes-Benz R107 SL

Happy half century!

As Mercedes-Benz engineers laboured, with their typical thoroughness, on a successor to the W113 ‘Pagoda’ SL in the second half of the ’60s, not even they could have foreseen that the car they were creating, the R107 SL, would still be with us at the end of the 1980s.

In all it lasted from 1971 to 1989; if you relate that period of time to popular music we are talking about a vehicle that reigned supreme in its class from the last knockings of Jimi Hendrix to the early days of Kylie Minogue.

Or, if you are tuning in from Germany, from Klaus Wunderlich to Bert Kaempfert.

Which is probably why now, in 2021, we are finding it hard to believe that the model is 50 years old. Still, we need little excuse to celebrate it, so join us as we gather three fine specimens and do just that.

Nearly a 20-year stretch

Somehow, the older it got, the more desirable a property the Peter Pan R107 became.

Annual sales peaked at 20,314 units in the car’s 15th year of production, and total output reached 237,287 (of which 156,000 were sold in North America) in an 18-season career only exceeded in the Benz range by the G-Wagen.

Shining three-pointed stars

The R107 was the product of a time when the very wealthy were fewer in number and had a much narrower choice of true status-symbol motor cars from which to choose.

Factoring in its practicality, glamour and open-topped two-seater appeal, it stood almost unchallenged when the build quality of a Mercedes-Benz was not a past-tense fable but a widely understood and entirely justified present-tense reality.

Introducing the ‘eights’

Longer, lower and wider than the car it replaced, the 350SL was the first of the V8-engined SLs, created in the interests of maintaining performance in the face of increasing weight.

By the turn of the 1980s, bigger V8s would transform the R107 into a 140mph luxury rocketship, but the original 350SL of 1971 was quick rather than truly fast, with 0-60 in 8 secs and a 128mph maximum.

You get what you pay for?

Its price-tag fully lived up to expectations. At £5600 it was nearly twice the cost of a V12 Jaguar E-type and £150 more than a Ferrari Dino, yet on paper it was hardly any faster than the likes of a Datsun 240Z or a Lotus Elan +2S 130.

And its 16mpg thirst was almost in the Jensen class.

Roadster or coupé – or saloon?

Daimler-Benz AG had come to the conclusion that this was exactly the sort of sports car its customers wanted: a safe and civilised all-weather luxury two-seater.

It was really a grand touring two-door saloon with its hardtop on.

Designed around power steering and an automatic transmission, and built to the highest standards of fit, finish and durability to be found in a production automobile, it was not so much a sports car as a Teutonic Ford Thunderbird.

Underbonnet options

The Pagoda had proved buyers’ acceptance of the concept; the R107 updated it with an SL that was now more than equal to the looming crash-safety and environmental challenges of the 1970s.

It was also adaptable to the engineering developments in the wider Mercedes-Benz range: no fewer than six sizes of V8 were offered in this body and two flavours of straight-six, these being mainly for buyers who insisted on stirring their own gears – although even the 280/300SLs were mostly ordered as autos.

Built to last

The model was known internally as the Panzerwagen thanks to its brawny, crash-resistant construction, but it would be wrong to dismiss the R107 series as overweight boulevardiers only suited to 1970s Americans in loud trousers.

The spectre of Hart to Hart and Dallas may haunt the R107 to this day, but we should not forget that this car was the last SL to be signed off by Rudolf Uhlenhaut, who certainly knew a good car when he drove one.

Smoothly does it

Born into the era of DBAG’s dalliance with rotary power (in the form of its futuristic C111 prototypes), there was nothing radical about this new Mercedes roadster.

Its 3499cc M117 engine had first been seen two years earlier in the 280SE 3.5 and 300SEL 3.5 models.

Silky and refined, it was a state-of-the-art V8 that revved much faster than its American equivalents and used a then-sophisticated Bosch electronic fuel-injection system controlled by manifold depression, with sensors for crank speed, coolant and air intake temperature.

Theoretically a four-speed manual was standard, but the automatic gearbox was an almost default option.

Distinctive hardtop

So was the hefty dished hardtop, which was the 350SL’s only real visual link to its elegant predecessor, but it seems that few cars were delivered as hood-only roadsters when the hardtop cost just £215 extra.

The ‘Mexican hat’ alloy wheels and heated rear window, in traditional Mercedes-Benz fashion, were chargeable options.

Pedigree rich

The gently wedge-profiled all-steel body was designed and engineered by the soon-to-retire Karl Wilfert, who had a pedigree at DBAG that went back to 1929.

It boasted progressive-crush crumple zones at either end but never had enough rust protection, not even after wax injection and wheelarch liners were introduced in the 1980s.

Easier to maintain

The anti-dive double-wishbone front suspension, with its steering box mounted well aft for safety, had a much less rigorous maintenance regime than the older kingpin type.

At the rear, splayed semi-trailing arms – inherited from the 1968 ‘new generation’ saloons – silenced critics of the swing-axle equipped W113 Pagoda’s behaviour under certain circumstances.

Caution

Disc brakes all round were virtually a given on any expensive European car by then, but among the options listed at the 1971 350SL introduction was an ATE anti-lock system.

One of the press cars at the SL’s Hockenheim launch was thus equipped, but there would be no ABS on production SLs until the mid-1980s.

First in line

The 350SL was a short-wheelbase car (in relation to its width) that sat on wide 205/70 tyres and thus had a similar four-square stance to its predecessor.

It was the first Benz to have the rectangular headlamps and ribbed, dirt-dodging tail-light lenses that were to be the trademark Mercedes family styling details of the 1970s.

Keeping clean

There were some concessions to aerodynamics, but most of that was about managing air flow to keep glass and lights clean for safety.

The ’screen pillars were more steeply raked, and 50% stronger, than the outgoing 280SL, but more obvious was the fact that the clap-hands windscreen wipers were gone.

A larger fuel tank was placed in a safer position above the rear axle in a car that was 400lb heavier than before but still balanced 50:50 overall.

Pretty popular

If the R107 roadsters, with their corrugated flanks, will not perhaps be remembered as the prettiest of the SLs, buyers at the time seemed not to care.

Even fussy quad headlamps and ‘park bench’ Federal impact bumpers in the American market, where 68% of SLs were sold, could not hurt its image as a genuine object of desire.

Changing with the times

Reacting to the first fuel crisis, from 1974 the 280SL came as standard with a manual gearbox (first four, then five speeds from 1980), but neither of the six-cylinder models were much more economical than the V8s.

Concurrent with the 3½-litre car, the 450SL – with anti-squat geometry on its rear suspension – was devised as a way of winning back the performance that had been lost first on US-bound, de-smogged R107s that were badged 350SL 4.5.

In 1973-’80 European form they gave 225bhp, but the only way of differentiating a 280SL from a 450SL (other than the bootlid badge) was the skinnier tyres of the former and the discreet chin spoiler of the latter.

New units

Both sizes of V8 went over to Bosch K-Jetronic injection in 1975 and came in-unit with a much smoother form of three-speed automatic with a torque convertor.

From March 1980, however, the 350 and 450SLs were usurped by new all-alloy V8s of 3.8 and 5 litres to become the 380SL and 500SL, with 218 and 231bhp respectively along with the latest four-speed automatic gearbox.

These lightweight V8s were no heavier than the 280SL’s ‘six’, and the gearboxes were lighter than before, too.

Improved efficiency

In 1981 the R107’s engines benefited from the ‘energy concept’ enhancements devised for the latest S-Class saloons, with a combination of higher compression ratio and massaged exhaust tracts and combustion chambers improving efficiency, power (240bhp for the 500) and even fuel consumption.

The 380, with a slightly longer stroke, had 10% more torque than the 350SL at 2000rpm and was said to have a faster warm-up time and a reduced idling speed for a 20% improvement in fuel consumption.

Reining it in

Whatever the engine size, these by then decade-old two-seaters were all fitted with weight-reducing aluminium bonnets and higher axle ratios.

There was an attempt to curb the thirst of the 185bhp M110 engine in the 280SL with an overrun fuel cut-off device.

The return of a famous name

Improved inlet valves and new cam profiles teased further horsepower out of the 500 in 1985 for a lusty 245bhp, with enough torque to give its now standard-fit limited-slip differential a workout.

At the same time the 380SL became the bored-out 420SL and the 280SL was replaced by the evocatively named 300SL, powered by the latest canted-over 188bhp single-overhead-cam straight-six first seen in the W124 300E.

Late upgrades

On all models the front suspension geometry got less offset, lower-profile tyres were introduced (on flat-face alloys) and a chin spoiler was added to reduce front-end lift.

The 560SL was an export-only model, heading to North America, Japan and Australia, restricted to 230bhp by emissions equipment.

Some of the best

Barely 1000 Pagoda SLs came to the UK but the R107s were much more in evidence and are still a fairly regular sight today.

Most of the nice ones seem to end up at the SL Shop in Warwickshire, which furnished us with an early 350SL, a high-spec leather-trimmed 500SL and a straight-six 300SL to get a feel for how the cars developed through the 1970s and ’80s.

Period perfect

In Icon Gold with the full hubcaps, the 350SL is a real period piece to look at, a true slice of ’70s chic compared to the slightly golf-club smugness of later variants.

After the ‘Italian coffee bar’ interior look of the Pagoda, Mercedes-Benz discovered injection mouldings for its plastic dashboards in the ’70s – colour-matching them to the external hue – and offered cloth inserts in addition to the usual MB-Tex or leather for the well-shaped seats.

Nothing flamboyant

The later SLs have veneers for the centre console, with a token sliver across the dash, but I like the honest austerity of the early car, if not the wrinkly rim of its massive steering wheel.

The 300 and 500 have the same design of four-spoke helm but, somehow, the leather cover gives a much more pleasant impression as you guide them through the Warwickshire lanes.

Earliest of the set

With its headgear in place the 350SL is like a small saloon that just happens to have two seats and superb 360º vision.

With their taut, beautifully tailored hoods lowered, windows up and furnace-like heaters blasting away, the 300 and 500 are cosy ways to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside in springtime.

The 350SL, from 1974, has quite a gentle feel on the road. It rolls visibly more than the later cars, and has slower and less accurate steering, although weight and feel are good in all three.

The pace to please

Its gearbox is there to be used if you want to extract performance; the selector works precisely in the D-S-L gate and the fluid coupling gives a positive feel to the changes compared to the seamless action of the torque-converter-equipped sport/economy transmissions in the 300 and 500.

They are higher geared than the 350, in which 80mph equals 4000rpm.

Sitting comfortably

In all versions you must engage ‘L’ from rest or push past the resistance at the end of the long accelerator travel to get bottom gear.

The 350 and 300 feel equally matched in their strong and lively, rather than startling, straight-line urge.

Compare and contrast

With throttle floored the meaty 500 squats hard on its rear suspension, leaving several yards of burnt rubber in its wake and shoving you up the road with a silky thrust that keeps on coming.

The 350 V8 sounds almost fussy compared to the way the baby 300, with its hydraulic tappets, sings round to 6500rpm.

Sweet ‘six’

I was left with the feeling that the lusty and lively six-pot R107, with all the late chassis tweaks and refinements, might just be the sweet spot of the range if you are ready to forgo V8 mystique and the period charm of the 1970s SLs.

Safe and sound

All versions handle and ride well: substantial without being cumbersome, despite a huge steering wheel that irritated critics for 18 years, and with mild, gently understeering manners that incorporate large margins of safety.

An impressive lack of scuttle shake is common to all models, combined with a useful lock that makes them easy cars to manoeuvre.

Still ticks all the boxes

More than just transport, 50 years on the essential appeal of the Mercedes-Benz R107 remains that of a compact, ‘personal’ and handy possession that manages to combine refinement and creature comforts without feeling in any way decadent, fragile or temperamental.

Still got it

A special car but not an exotic one: a ‘lifestyle’ automobile and timeless default statement of affluence that resonated even with those who had only a passing interest in cars.

No wonder it has stood the test of time so very well.

Better than ever?

Today as when the range launched back in 1971, the R107 SLs offer great comfort, serious style and easy performance to make every drive a memorable experience.

In fact, the passing of the years has only increased that, given the homogeneity of modern cars and today the fact that the oh-so-evocative ‘SL’ nameplate has disappeared from the Mercedes-Benz line-up

Many happy returns

When it was new, this was the luxury roadster everyone’s mum dreamed of – and quite a few dads, too.

It’s just the same today – and we can’t see this classic three-pointed star losing its appeal or lustre any time soon.

Happy 50th birthday to the long-lived legend that is the Mercedes-Benz R107 SL.