The tell-tale signs of a car once being loved aren’t hard to find. Usually, there’s some enhancement, or perhaps a well-kept interior. Usually, there’s a little bit of accessorizing going on. Those clues tell us that a car once had a more auspicious future than it does at the present time, and perhaps there’s hope it will once again be in the hands of an enthusiast. This 1975 Mercedes-Benz 450SL listed here on eBay at our favorite car donation dealer has fallen on hard times, but it has some of those clues of a happier past.
Right off the bat, the wheels: these were not cheap back in the day, and if you had a vintage Mercedes of any configuration, adding these classy rollers usually meant you had some extra coins in your pocket after buying the pricey luxury car. Of course, one could argue not taking care of the paint and letting it sit outside in the blistering sun shows a mismatch of priorities, but I prefer to think this happened long after the wheels were purchased. As a U.S. market car, it suffers from the large safety bumpers which otherwise mar the handsome R107 styling.
The interior is another sign that when it was new, this Mercedes roadster was a stunner. Someone picked out a stunning cardinal red leather interior with a matching dashboard to complement the handsome silver paint. The exterior isn’t nearly as special, but the interior was a standout when it was showroom fresh. Again, this is the sort of detail that tells me at one time, someone loved this Mercedes. These days, it doesn’t run under its own power, and whether any of the power or convenience features still work is a giant question mark.
The seller does their typical short-lived attempt at making it run, which I’m guessing consists of hooking up a jump pack and not much else. No other testing was performed, so of course, it doesn’t run. The trunk also doesn’t open, likely due to a failed cable, so who knows what treasures reside inside. Under the hood is a familiar V8 engine producing 180 b.h.p. and 220 lb.-ft. of torque. While these cars are not very valuable and you can find a runner practically anywhere, the special color combination and period-correct details do make me wonder how it ended up this way. Bidding sits at just $355 with no reserve – the wheels are worth more!
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