One man’s unhealthy Mercedes hoarding obsession is another man’s unhealthy car driving obsession. That’s right motherfuckers, our resident MSIMA Pimp has made another purchase.

I’ve had to honor or disservice (the difference depends on your reality) to have driven and been around one too many mid 80-s to early 90’s Mercedes Benzes. Additionally, nearly all of those Mercs have been some play on the w126 formula (aka the 80’s S-Class).

So when I heard that our friend of Pimp-ly stature added yet another Mercedes that hadn’t discovered the magic of OBDII, I was only mildly amused.

And then I saw it roll up to my door.

This isn’t like those other Mercs. Mostly.

This is actually kind of small, the suspension isn’t too floaty, the brakes won’t immediately give up… it’s almost as if someone at Mercedes let slightly loose back in the 70’s. I forgot those engineers knew how to have fun after the incident.

So out of the random assortment of letters and numbers that typically grace the best German cars, what can we actually decipher?

Well first off, it’s a 70’s SL of the “r107” gen, with a 4.5L SOHC v8 with electronic fuel injection (in 1973 for some fucking reason) pair to a genuine abomination of a 3 speed auto. And what’s that badge?

Oh yeah fuckers, it’s AMG time. My favorite time.

Some of you might call foul about the lack of AMG engine upgrades outside of a muffler, and to that I say… shut up and I’ll get to that later.

Now let’s get on with it!

You slide into this early 70’s interior that feels like a buncha 60’s leftovers all joined together one last rave before retirement. It’s pretty in here. This doesn’t feel like those other mercs. This feels new, different, special.

Then you go for the seatbelts, and you’re met with this shit:

Suddenly the early 1970’s really does feel a like it was over half a century ago. I remember being a kid and thinking “oh yeah the 70’s, that’s like 30-something years ago”. You might as well be sipping tea with a conquistador on Mars with how in another time and place this car can make you feel.

Existential crisis aside, remember that electronic fuel injection I mentioned! I don’t know if I should be worried or not, seeing as the car that replaced this moved to mechanical fuel injection. And that’s a system Mercedes then stuck with straight through the 1980s. The computer that runs all this is larger than an oversized deli sandwich and probably employs several hamsters to pull levers to act as logic gates. But it works and seemingly reliably too for now, much to the annoyance of its owner who has spent the last few years perfecting the art of diagnosing mechanical fuel injection.

There are some other old car oddities too. Like the chrome hand crank you use to latch the roof in place is just a tool that just kinda sits in a cubby back there. And some of the lighting solutions in this car are a bit of an industrial afterthought. Then you get to the sunshades, which are the size of a small nation.

It has AC too! Or at least it has air that blows and then air that blows hot! The controls for this early system are a somewhat confusingly mess of levers and dials that need to be operated like the controls of a power plant. But there is air and there is heat!

The SL is that “classic Mercedes experience” with an actual fun side sprinkled in. The interior is pretty immaculate, with every surface being leather or vinyl or wood or some other nice feeling thing. It’s a comfy ride with the car always feels reassuringly sturdy and plated. And it moves pretty decently too, especially for a 70’s car. Hell, it’ll outrun my z3 once you get above like, 70 mph. As an almost sports car/back road cruiser, it’s fucking phenomenal. And that hurts to say because it means my friend and his Mercs win. But, even with my jovial spirit, there are some flaws:

Contention 1: The Gearbox

You sit in comfort, large roof folded back, and go to shift into first which reveals the first of a few disappointments: the 3 Speed auto box. That’s right you fucks, we got my 3 on the T R E E BABY! And boy does this car deserve literally any other transmission.

The AMG exhaust paired to a 4.5L v8 can make for some genuinely wonderful noises, and moves this slab of Merc pretty well. You get this big surge of torque, feeling the car squat down a little bit as it prepare to surf that surge like a wave. But god damn it, 3 gears ain’t enough, especially with modern highways and its more spirited nature. You’re constantly either wanting more gears to play with on a back road, or sitting there wishing it had an overdrive above like 60 mph.

Chuck that Mercedes tranny into the bottom of the ocean and give this thing the 5 speed manual it wants (and deserves).

Contention 2: The steering

You get wonderful feedback from that real, in-period AMG steering wheel. But the car seems to beg for a marginally quicker rack. The platform feels solid, enough so that you start to understand why people took these racing. It’s well composed and you can send this thing through turns with decent confidence. There is an eagerness to this car, but the steering is just lazy enough that you’ll be driving it like a bus driver on the Bolivian death road.

Quicker rack, refresh the bushings, maybe change the tires and alignment. For a car that handles this decently and communicates this well to you, it feels like it needs juuuuust a little more to nudge it.

Contention 3: The Sound

It sounds like a damn truck. Like a an GMC with an exhaust.

You get on the gas and it just like:

“BLUUUUUUUURREBBBBEURRLLL”

And then goes into 3rd and stays there all:

“Uuuuuuuuuurrghhhhh”

Like it’s groaning about being used. It’s technically angry. But it’s not aggressive angry. It’s just upset at you for not letting gramps just retire with dignity.

Eventually, it does start to wake up. You get some decent v8 noises and dirty burps and burbles as it figures itself out. But it begs for more freedom.

Another 1500 RPM should do the trick.

What’s that? The owner put in an x-pipe? Well that fixed it a bit. Still, another 1500 RPM.

The contentions are now over.

Ok so maybe some of those are nitpicks. Unless you’re talking about the gearbox, which should be taken to a Navy test range and used for precision bombing practice.

The motor paired with that exhaust is pretty fun to interact with. You can dig for what power it has and it very directly provides it. And despite the transmission’s deep rooted desires, you will feel that sensation of acceleration and speed as you drive. A 4.5L v8 is in fact enough for a 70’s convertible (who would’ve guessed)! And to think there are larger motors you could’ve gotten in there.

The issue is, you’re just left wanting a little bit more. A little more directness, a little more *oomf*, and a few more revs. That platform feels more than up to the task. Especially when you get outside and look at it.

Right so the elephant in the room that you probably want to know is what’s with all the “AMG-ness” paired to a seemingly stock car?

Well, like that other AMG badged SL we drove, no this isn’t an AMG tuned car. But, the body, exhaust, and steering wheel are all actual AMG parts installed in period. Because back then AMG was tuning house that sold everything.

So like the Koenig w126 we reviewed in 2023, while it doesn’t make insane power, it is still the real deal. And I think it looks pretty damn good. Probably the best looking Merc my buddy owns.

With all that said, what is the verdict? What’s the use case of this thing?

Well, it’s the perfect 6/10ths car. Top down, radio on, drive mildly aggressively down a twisty Appalachian backroad or the Blue Ridge Parkway, and indulge yourself with a car that makes you feel special. There’s enough noise, theatre, road feel, and balance to make the car an engaging this to drive and interact with. Yet it’s relaxed and easy enough to operate that you’re able to take in the scenery around you. No one thing overly dominates the experience in the way some other, older, and more aggressive cars would. You’re not worried about shifting to 2nd to make it up hill or razor focused on the drive feeling every bit of pavement or so inundated with old money luxury that you doze off looking at clouds. It just likes to be driven and beaten on a little.

Take it on a road rally like we did, and that transmission aside, you’ll probably wonder why bother bringing anything else.

Well, unless your this guy: