A friend offered for me to possibly buy an SL that's been in a storage box for 4 or 5 years. I'm confused because when I ran the VIN it came up as a 1981 380SL but the trunk badge is 450SL. The VIN tag on the driver side body jamb is in fact listed as mfg. of 7/81 and model 107. From doing some research (Wikipedia) M.B. discontinued the 450 in 1980 and stepped down to the 380 for 1981 to 1983. Help me out on this one to properly identify this one. And from what I'm reading is that it's not worth much at all. Timing chain issues, etc. and it has 104k miles on it. Claims it ran perfectly before it was mothballed.

 

07/81 is a 380SL. If only in storage for a few years then it may still be in pretty good shape. The biggest worries for these is rust (body and fuel tank) and the timing chain. You need to inspect both. The '81 - mid '83 had a single row chain that was prone to stretching and the timing jumping. If properly maintained on regular intervals it is not a problem

 

Mystery solved on the trunk lid 450 numbers. Original owner broke the 380 numbers and put the 450 on.

 

Oh the shame.

should be a cheap score that you can fix over the winter and cruise on next summer.

rust in fuel tank and floorboards will make this a parts car.