At $9,900, Would You Class Up The Joint In This 1986 Mercedes 560 SL?

Like its pagoda-roofed predecessors, today's Nice Price or No Dice R107 is a model on the rise. Let's see if we like where this classy convertible is presently priced.

Older compact pickups, most notably those from Ford and Toyota, enjoy a substantial fan base and therefore often command a premium when sold. There comes a point of diminishing returns when small pickups are too small, however, impeding load capacity, and implying that a congress of terrifying clowns might spill out of the cab at any given moment.

In the case of the tiny 1983 Suzuki Mighty Boy pickup we considered yesterday, practicality outweighed its inherent cuteness. Aside from the awesome name (c'mon, who wouldn't want to drive a Mighty Boy?), there just wasn't much to justify paying the $9,200 asking price for the Suzuki Kei truck. That was the takeaway from the comments, with an 87% "No Dice" loss in the vote, sealing the deal.

When Daimler-Benz introduced the Mercedes 190 SL in 1955, the company was sort of pulling a fast one. The roadster's styling drew obvious inspiration from the mighty and exclusive 300 SL, but the smaller car's punky four-cylinder couldn't cash the checks that styling was writing. Arriving in 1963, the 190's successor still offered open-top motoring along with the option of a tidy hardtop for when that wasn't appropriate. The new cars eschewed the old four-pot for exclusively six-cylinder power, increasing in size over the model's run from 2.3 to 2.5 and finally 2.8 liters.

When that car was ready for pasture, Mercedes went all wild hair (or, at least as much as staid German engineers are allowed), designing the next edition's engine bay to be roomy enough to house a V8. The result was the R107 roadster, which would prove the longest-lasting of any of Mercedes' two-seat drop-tops to date, with a nearly 20-year production run.

This 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560 SL is from the second half of the run and features the largest engine ever dropped into a production R107. That's a 5547cc edition of the mighty SOHC M 117 V8. Intended specifically for the U.S. market and the Americans' love of off-the-line torque, the big V8 made 227 horsepower out the door, and an impressive 287 pound-feet of torque way down low in the rev range.

According to the ad, this Benz comes with a clean title, a passing grade from the smog station, and 136,000 miles under its belt. The ad also claims this car to be a "a true European-spec model that stands out from the typical U.S. versions." Based on the sealed beam headlamps, diving board bumpers, speedometer with MPH featured prominently, and a CHMSL lamp on the trunk lid, that's perhaps not an accurate assessment. 

Another puzzler is the ad's claim that the car is "Finished in classic white over navy blue leather, with interior seating refreshed in a vintage-inspired tartan plaid that adds a nostalgic touch." Huh? By background, I'm a kilt-wearing Scot. As such, I think I could spot a tartan from a mile away, but I'm not seeing any here. There's also something mentioned about a mileage discrepancy from "25 years ago," but it's dismissed as if such things naturally just go away over time.

Regardless of the questions the description raises, the car photos tell a story. The white paint over a blue (non-tartan) interior is a nice color combo and the car comes with the de rigueur hardtop. The seller claims there are minor cosmetic imperfections and spots of rust, but they are too small to be seen in the photos.

The interior looks fantastic, and this is a new enough car to have an airbag for the driver. It's old enough, though, that the passenger is SOL. The only jarring element in the cabin is an aftermarket stereo that looks like it was lifted straight out of the automotive aisle at Walmart and not from the house of Becker.

Both engine bay and trunk look tidy, and the latter carries the car's floor mats and a hunk of carpet for who knows what. The only transmission Mercedes offered on the 560 SL was a four-speed automatic. The seller makes no mention of any issues with that, or with the V8 that gives it its marching orders. On the "Hmm" side of things, the seller does note that this "is a 40 year old car so it does have some minor imperfections."

As we briefly discussed at the outset, decent R107s are seeing their values creep up. This was the case for the W113 a few years back; today, they are alarmingly expensive rather than just modestly priced collectibles. The R107s are still in that sweet spot where a well-presented car like this can be had for what's probably not highway robbery. We'll just have to see if that's the case with this car. The asking price is $9,900, which is about three grand more than it would have gone for pre-pandemic, but—spoiler alert—that was more than half a decade ago.

What's your take on this R107 and that $9,900 asking price? Does that seem fair given how the car looks in the ad? Or is that price tag just another of the seller's "discrepancies?"

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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