450SL: The King of Vintage V8 Cruiser Cool
This rust-free 450SL is the perfect car for burning thousands of road-trip highway miles.
There is something to be said for a vintage Grand Touring style car, especially on a gorgeous summer evening with the top down and your favorite passenger by your side. When you can feel the wind dancing across the top of your head, and you don’t have a particular destination in mind (just a direction), and you haven’t got a care in the world, you’re probably in the driver’s seat of a vintage Mercedes Cabriolet like this 1973 450SL. This is the ultimate chill-out machine, with a soft and comfortable ride, a smooth powerful V8, and a beautiful, long hood stretched out in front of you.
This car is currently available for sale on Bring A Trailer auctions, and based on nearly 200 photographs, it appears to be a mostly-original, rust-free Texan. We can’t recall a time when we’ve seen an SL of this era in quite as good of shape.
CHECK OUT: What Forum Members Are Saying About This King Cruiser
As such, the floor pans look clean enough to use as dinner plates, and even the exhaust pipes show very little signs of corrosion. A perfect set of Bundt-style wheels on good Michelin Harmony tires help set off this gorgeous original look. The seller claims everything in the car still works perfectly, including the power windows and air conditioning. And it was recently given a full service.
There’s a bit of pitting on the left side of the rear bumper, and there is a scratch on the windshield trim, but everything else appears to be in excellent condition. The only deviation from stock that we can discern is an Alpine CD head unit and a set of aftermarket speakers behind the seats.
If you want to check it out for yourself, and we suggest you do, head over to Bring A Trailer for more information and dozens upon dozens of photos. Then let us know what you think!
