The S-Class may be more important for fame and of course for sales. But if there is one car that stands for the Mercedes legend, it is the SL. Started as a gullwing exactly 69 years ago, it has written a long success story and the next chapter is already in the works. So reason enough for a trip between yesterday and tomorrow.
It is perhaps the brightest star in the sky over Stuttgart and without it the Mercedes legend is hardly conceivable. Since 69 years ago an SL first drove on the racetrack and then on the road for the first time, it is considered the epitome of the luxurious sports car and the dynamic counterpoint to the glitz and glory of an S-Class or even a Maybach.
Sunken star, dusty myth
It is true that the SL has written an impressive success story that now extends over eight chapters. But worn out between the AMG GT and the S-Class Cabrio and because of the repeatedly delayed generation change, its star has recently dropped steeply and has gathered dust. But soon the SL should return to the sunny side of life and shine brightly again over its segment. Because the successor, who wants to fill the myth with new life, is warming up in and around Stuttgart.
While the frequency of the Erlkönige is increasing between the development centers and Sindelfingen and the test site in Immendingen and the engineers are writing the last sentences on the latest chapter of the success story under code R232, we are opening what is probably the thickest chapter of this star story and starting out on an excursion in the R129, which is a role model for the new model in two ways – because it was the last roadster with a fabric roof, to which the new generation will also return. And unlike his successor, it was a – well – 2 + 2-seater, as the new one wants to be.
“Fascination of driving in unknown dimensions”
The Swabians promised nothing less than “the fascination of driving in unknown dimensions” in the press kit for the premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in 1989 and kept their word in every respect. Because the R129 series drawn by Bruno Sacco not only looked badly good and was therefore quickly showered with design awards. It also became the first high-tech model among open-air vehicles with innovations such as the integral seat, the first electro-hydraulic convertible top and the automatically folding roll bar. Where convertibles and roadsters were often neglected with new technologies due to their small numbers, the SL was almost able to compete with the S-Class.
But the Swabians took their time for this: The predecessor of the R107 generation had to run for over 18 years and in the end it was exhausted accordingly. New standards and stricter security requirements had given the developers great headaches and repeatedly led to a shift. But once the engineers had made up their minds, there were no more compromises and in many ways new territory was broken.
The technology was packaged in a design that could hardly be more timeless. It is not for nothing that the R129 is still having an effect today: While the successor to the R230 series, the first SL with a retractable hardtop and a significantly more sporty orientation, was already fed up after two years, the R129 is so simple and straightforward that its beauty is apparent lasts forever: you can’t tell by looking at the more than 30 years that he’s now under his belt.
PS pretiose on the threshold of the classic car
This, too, makes the SL from the turn of the millennium the ideal horsepower pretiose in many ways on the threshold of a classic car. On the one hand, a real classic that at least connoisseurs are slowly turning around. On the other hand, it is still so cheap that you don’t have to tear a deep hole in your household budget or look for an alarm-secured garage on the go. Because every new mid-range station wagon is more expensive than a really well-maintained 129 with almost six-figure mileage. In any case, with 20,000 euros you are in the best of hands.
He catapults you back in time than you could imagine. Because it is old and therefore analogue enough that you feel like a driver again at the giant steering wheel who is actually still setting the course here and not like a “user” who is guided to the destination by the electronics while supervised driving. But at the same time he is so young and sprightly that you can sit behind the wheel without hesitation and without much preparation and unwind 2000 kilometers from a piece. Yes, maybe an oil change, fill up the washer fluid and check the tire pressure. But that really doesn’t have to be more: get in, start up, drive off – anyone who usually only drives brand new cars is sometimes surprised that something like this still works after 20 years.
In addition, it is extremely comfortable and still has more luxury than some new cars. And above all, it is so safe and looks so solid that even after almost 30 years you can still get on board with a clear conscience. And it is more variable than any modern roadster. No, maybe not with the roof, which is far from the coupé comfort of its successors, which at some point gets cloudy plastic windows, flutters a little in the wind and makes you grateful for the removable hardtop that Mercedes even included free of charge in the end. But two optional folding armchairs in the rear made the luxury liner a full-fledged family car, at least temporarily and in the short term.
Potent, but not an athlete
The roadster with powerful engines with up to 396 hp was available in the feudal and at the time unrivaled V12 model SL 600 or 525 hp in the SL 73 from the factory tuner AMG. But the roadster was not a really sporty car back then: sporty and light – there is not much left of the initials of the series and the dynamism of the legendary gullwing that founded the model family in 1952. Because safety has its price and, with a weight of 2 tons in the worst case, is reflected on the scales. Innovations such as the adaptive chassis are also intended more for comfort than for uncompromising cornering.
The R129 is driven accordingly with caution today: it likes to go fast, but rarely at full throttle and always nice and comfortable in the corners, it gives the feudal cruiser for a relaxed stroll on the sunny side of life. Travel, don’t rush is the motto here and you can sometimes take that literally. Because where current roadsters hardly offer more space than for a handbag and a credit card, the trunk of the SL still bears its name and casually swallows the luggage for a two-week summer vacation.
The 3-liter six-cylinder purrs like clockwork under the hood of the 320. After all, it is the last in-line engine before the Swabians switched to the V6. And the papers say a top speed of 240 km / h, at which it should be a bit drafty even in front of the wind deflector. But whether the 231 hp and 315 Nm actually lift the car to 100 km / h in 8.4 seconds? No idea! And it doesn’t matter either. Because you drive an old SL just for fun and you really take your time, you rarely step on the gas pedal and the buttery smooth five-speed automatic is usually in “E”.
If you want to drive fast, you don’t buy an old SL, but wait for the new one and hope that the developers will not only look to the 129er. But the chances are good that you will turn the chronicle all the way back to its beginning as a thoroughbred racing car. It is not for nothing that AMG is in charge of the new edition this time.
SPX / Benjamin Bessinger