Mercedes-Benz W107 350SL

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The Mercedes-Benz 350 SL was a two-seat open roadster produced by Mercedes-Benz with various engines from 1971 until 1989.

In October 1970 Mercedes presented the 350 SL, an open-top two-seat Roadster as successor to the 230/250/280 SL line featuring a 3.5 litre V8, as its name implies, and code-named Mercedes-Benz R107. The car stayed in production until 1989, when it was finally superseded by the R129 SL. This brand new SL-range had an extremely controversial design - way ahead of its time, this benchmark roadster had its own special unique appeal, offering (for the time and nevertheless now too) extremely powerful and refined performance. The R107 range has a unique lasting appeal owing to its sophisticated design and counterparts. The models ranged from the 6-in-line 280 to precisely double that - the 560 (not officially imported to Europe) with its exclusive 5.6 L V8 engine.

In 1971 the 4.5 liter "350 SL" (230 hp) became available in the USA (the designation 350SL for the US market was designed to fool the German market who did not have access to the larger engine, and this name was kept until October 1972 when the official tag "450SL" was put on US cars). The 350/450SL was a rather low compression 4.5 liter engine (230 hp SAE, later reduced down in stages for fuel economy purposes to the final 160 hp SAE in 1980) designed to specifically meet US emission control laws in effect at the time. Later, a higher compression 450 SL (250 hp SAE) was made accessible to Europeans, too, joined in the wake of the first fuel crisis by the "economy" 280 SL with a fuel-injected six (185 hp). The 350 SL (later rechristened 450 SL) remained the only available model in the USA until 1980.

A reshuffling of engines took place in 1980. The 280 SL regained its former strength of 185 hp (after suffering a slight detuning to 177 hp in the late seventies), a 3.8 litre light alloy V-8 (218 hp) replaced the former 3.5 litre (down to 195 hp in final form) and a new 5.0 litre (240 hp) superseded the 4.5 litre engine (down to 217 hp)). Shortly after their introduction, the new V-8 engines underwent some detail work stressing fuel economy and diminishing their output slightly. In the USA, the 450 SL was replaced in 1980 by the 380 SL, detuned to 155 hp.

In 1985 a new 560SL model was added, in response to the success of the powerful European specification 500SL in the US grey market.

Production hovered around 15,000 to 20,000 units per year, with 60 to 70 percent going to the US.

An offspring of the R107 SL was the C107 SLC coupe. The SL's wheelbase was stretched and the car received a fixed roof. This successor to the saloon-based SE coupes of the sixties suffered somewhat in terms of styling, being a derivative of the SL. It seemed unbalanced. Most criticism was directed towards the louvers in front of the C-pillars which, no doubt, were added to mask the fact that the SLC was an elongated SL. In Europe there were 280/350/450 SLCs, in the US a 350/450 SLC, later a 380 SLC until the model was replaced in 1983 by the new 380 SEC, based on the S-class introduced in the autumn of 1979 (W126). SLC production reached 7.000 units in good years. Special mention deserves the 450 SLC 5.0 of 1978, the first MB car with the new light alloy 5.0-litre engine and hood (bonnet) and trunk (boot) lid both made of aluminium.