1983 500 SL Euro
 

Sold!!!

Hi,
We are selling our inherited 1983 500 SL Roadster for parts or possible use outside of California. It has 191,400 miles on it now. It has a clean Carfax report, no accidents reported, second owner vehicle. The car has been driven less than 2000 miles since the original owner passed away in 2001. The title is clear of liens, and signed off by the previous owner. Unfortunately, because the car is originally from Germany and a "direct import" to the US, California requires a letter of conformance from a special laboratory here. California would not allow us to complete the registration and title transfer without this expensive test. The car needs to go outside California, or sold for parts.


The car is in good shape for its age. The car lived in Texas its whole life, but is now in California. No rust of any kind. Dry rubber in places. The car has both a hard and soft top. The soft top needs new plastic windows. Only slight blemishes in the body including a dent in the front bumper, and a split in the top of the dash board. The seats are leather and have no rips or tears of any kind, but could use leather treatment. The air conditioner is R134 and blows cold. The engine top was rebuilt by a professional mechanic with intake manifold rebuild, new rubber air hoses and donuts, new throttle, new throttle switch, new air sensor boot, rebuilt fuel distributor, new injectors, new plugs, new fuel pump, new catalytic converter (3-way - Ca), new Oxygen sensor, rebuilt exhaust, new battery, reconditioned ECU, rebuilt left rear CV axle, all gauges working, 3 bars oil pressure. These repairs were completed in Oct 2005. The car has since developed a "rattle" which I believe is the right CV axle, which can be bought refurbished for $175. The Drivetrain bearing and rubber parts seem fine, and has 1/4 " of total play. The Michelin tires have about 1/8 " of tread left. I also have the parts for timing chain, tensioner, and rail replacements, if interested. Except for the CV axel problem, the cars runs great now and even passes the enhanced smog limits for the Bay Area. This car needs to live outside of California. We are asking $3,500 as is, which is much less than we paid for the engine restoration. Buyer can arrange shipping, which we did to get it out here ($950 from Atlanta to Bay Area), or drive away. The temporary California registration expires at the end of January, but can be renewed for one time passage out of state.

Paul Springer
(925) 449-7860
Livermore, Ca

Sorry to hear...
 

...you have to let it go due to "red tape". I assume it didn't get the US spec bumpers is part of the problem?

It looks good in the one photo but I can't distinguish the colors. Can you e-mail some more photos (kevinm@texas-sterling.com)? I have someone with some interest back here in TX

Thanx
Kevin

I'll upload some pictures tomorrow.
 

Meanwhile here are the build notes from Mercedes Classic:

VEHICLE IDENT. NO: WDB 107046 1A 001110
VEHICLE MODEL : 500 SL
TYPE OF BODY : ROADSTER
ORDER NUMBER : 0 3 737 00055 DISPATCH : 06 09 1983
PRODUCTION NUMBER: 3710815 PAINT 1 / 2: 930 930
ENGINE NUMBER : 117962 12 002726 _ TRIM : 252
TRANSMISSION NO. : 722313 02 386787 _ TIRES : MICHELIN
HEADLIGHTS : BOSCH
OPTION CODES : 251 256 406 440 470 504 531 570 581 592 603
744

CODE DESIGNATON
930O SILVER BLUE METALLIC
930O SILVER BLUE METALLIC
252A BLUE LEATHER
251 BECKER RADIO MEXICO CASETTE, FULL STEREO, ELECTRONIC
256 REAR AXLE WITH LIMITED-SLIP DIFFERENTIAL
406 404+405
404 ORTHOPAEDIC FRONT SEAT BACKREST, LEFT
405 ORTHOPAEDIC FRONT SEAT BACKREST, RIGHT
440 TEMPOMAT (CRUISE CONTROL)
470 ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SYSTEM (ABS)
504 OUTSIDE REAR VIEW MIRROR, RIGHT, ELECTRICALLY ADJUSTABLE
531 AUTOMATIC ANTENNA
570 FOLDING ARMREST FRONT
581 AUTOMATIC CLIMATE CONTROL
592 GREEN HEAT-INSUL. GLASS, ALL-AR., HEATED REAR WINDOW PANE, BAND
FILTER
603 600+601
600 HEADLAMP WIPER/WASHER
601 OIL FOR REAR AXLE WITH LIMITED-SLIP DIFFERENTIAL, IN CANISTERS
744 FOLDING TOP FABRIC DARK BLUE (5010)

Dude, your '83 has ABS and a limited slip...I've never heard of anything before '84 that has those.

-John

Lovw to see more about the car but the comment on ABS intrigues me. Also the VIN is not in standard form and cannot be checked. Could you post the correct VIN? Are you in the SF Bay area? Let us know that because "Bay Area" could mean Tampa Bay, Cheasapeake Bay, etc.
Thanks

The VIN is correct...
 

... but the car was from Germany. I was told that the car was brought into the US by the original owner who ordered it and picked it up at the factory, drove around Europe and brought it back on a boat to New York. It was then modified in 1983 to meet US standards. (Meaning catalytic converter, restrictor for unleaded gas only, seat belt lights, door reinforcement, US DOT headlights, Lamdha feedback control, etc ...) The car does come up on carfax, and I have the registration and inspection records going back to 1984 from the Texas DOT. I don't have the US DOT and EPA documents from that time.


The info on the ABS and limited slip differential are from the build sheet from Mercedes. There were very few 500 SL cars made. Perhaps they started devlopement of those features in Europe. The car does have an ABS light. I'm going to install the CV axle that came today so I'll see the differential up close and personal.

VIN is the same...
 

...sequence as the one on my '84 euro 500 which was brought over the same way (by original owner). I don't know why it won't come up on the Russian VIN decoder site though.

Kevin

the abs does not surprise
 

in germany they offered it before here. the 83 300d that i parted out had it.

tom w

ABS was out there before here, like most everything, including fuel efficient cars..

You can easily confirm all options and this VIN by calling Mercedes Classic Center, Paul Henle usually. Mercedes keeps astounding records.

Think about it, how many 500 SL from 1983 model year do you see in the US of A?

If I were looking for an SL of early eighties and lived in a state with less red tape, then I would say this car is very enticing!!!!

It looks great.

Kevin- Sent photos by email
 

I will resize them to allow posting here.

Trying to resize -- test
 

Just checking if image at low resolution is OK. What's the best way to post these?

That's what I was trying to access- my '85 euro 500 SEL comes up on it, so it seems strange to me. The car does look nice and the 500SL is desirable. Post more pics! a cross country drive may be worth it if I can figure out how to move the seat back a bit further... the drive I just did from Virgina to SF(in my 560SL) would have been even more awsome with another three inches of leg room. I'm close to 6' 5".

the 500sl
 

in 83 was euro only. and very rare.

tom w