3 Cool Facts About The Mercedes R129 SL

1. First production car with automatic roll bar deployment

The Mercedes R129 SL was the first production car to feature automatic roll bar deployment. The spring-loaded safety feature pops out in 0.3 seconds if a roll or predetermined level of instability is detected, making this one hell of a safe convertible, even by today’s standards.

If the car’s owner wants the roll bar deployed at all times, then he/she can do this manually in around four seconds (this works with the roof up or down).

2. The SL73 AMG's engine was used for the Pagani Zonda F

The 7.3-litre V12 M120 engine of the extremely rare SL73 AMG was later used by Pagani to power the 594bhp, 200mph+ Zonda F

In the SL73 AMG, the V12 produced 518bhp, which represented a colossal increase in power over the 383bhp, 5.9-litre V12 of the SL600.

The huge power figure, coupled with its 558lb/ft of torque, gave the SL73 AMG a 0-60mph time of just 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 186mph. Only 85 SL73 AMGs were made between 1999 and 2001.

An SL70 AMG also made the line-up between 1996 and 1997, of which 150 cars were made. It featured a 7.0-litre V12 with 489bhp.

3. R129 SL Mercedes are seriously inexpensive to buy

If you look in the classifieds now, you’ll see a lot of R129 SL Mercedes up for grabs, ranging in price from around £3000 for a standard SL320, to around £11,000 for the far rarer SL600, of which there are approximately 200 registered examples in the UK currently.

For the money, there’s not a lot else out there that offers this kind of refinement, safety, cool and class, which is why the SL is well worth a closer look (as long as you can swallow heavy fuel bills and repair jobs that will likely be quite expensive).