My mother used to drive a 1986 300SL and I have used that car a lot (I drove it more as my mother did). This car got me addicted to convertibles and to feed this addiction I bought myself a 1990 300SL-24.

I know these are not 500s, but the comparison is practically the same. Since I drove the R129 300SL, I never wanted to use my mothers' W107 300SL anymore; the difference is HUGE.
The interior of the R129 feels a lot bigger (the W107 was too crappy with that windshield on top of the steering wheel) and the difference in handling is like the difference between day and night. The R129 is steady as a rock while the handling of the W107 was not even worth to be considered being one of a sports car.

Like Dale said: drive one and you will know the difference!

greetingz,

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1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)