Apricot Orange R107: 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SL

If you were ever tired of seeing the R107-chassis Mercedes-Benz SL, I can’t say I blame you – they are seemingly everywhere. But all it takes is finding one with a defining feature, such as a paint job, to make it an absolute standout. While there are occasionally some gray-market cars that sneak in or the odd AMG-modified example from the 1980s, you’d be searching for quite some time to find a car seemingly as special as this one. This 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SL listed here on craigslist appears to sport a very rare shade of paint known as Apricot Orange.

Of course, there are other things to like about this particular R107, namely its tidy interior and early-model details like the slim European market-style bumpers. The color, however, is what will get this car sold, since plenty of R107s (and the occasional C107) are kept in outstanding condition by devoted owners. The color, however, is likely a respray, as Mercedes only offered Apricot Orange for a short window of time in the 1980-1981 production years. Curiously enough, a quick Google search reveals as least three examples of owners respraying their cars in this delightful shade.

Tan leather seating surfaces look tidy, but the odd bunching of the leather on the headrests suggests that the seats were redone at some point. Mercedes upholstery work is generally much tighter than this, and if the car was repainted, it wouldn’t surprise me to see an interior refresh done at the same time. Other photos in the listing show it indoors with the hard top removed, so hopefully, the soft top mechanism has been exercised from time to time. The listing notes it is a one-owner car with just 60,000 original miles.

Wow – what a stunner. It’s amazing how much better the classic Bundt wheels and white-line tires look with the slim bumpers. The paint makes it ever more special, and while I can’t verify the color with 101 percent accuracy, I’m fairly certain we’re staring at Apricot Orange. Since this is a U.S.-spec model, it makes less power than its European-market counterpart, but 190 bhp and 240 lb-ft of torque is still sufficient for today’s roads (though it is delivered via a lazy-shifting automatic.) For fun in the sun, it doesn’t get much better than this. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Curvette for the tip.