Following the resounding success of the R107, the R129 Mercedes-Benz SL had a rather tough act to follow, as it still had to carry on the tradition of a fast and reliable grand touring convertible. The advantage designers had with the R129 was technology. By the time the final car rolled off the production line in 1989, these earlier models had bee..
DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL, THIS LOT HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN FROM THE AUCTIONThe 560 SL convertible was the latest in Mercedes-Benz's long and much loved line of luxury sports cars. Launched in 1983 it could trace its lineage back to the 230 SL of 1963. The 560 SL was powered by a 5.5 litre, overhead camshaft V8 engine producing 227bhp, an ..
Stuttgart supplied these grand-tourers with high levels of comfort including a fabric convertible top as well as a colour-matched and manually detachable hardtop that could be fitted over the stored fabric convertible roof. Other advancements included an electronically controlled damping and the famous hidden, automatically extending roll-over bar...
The fifth generation of the legendary SL series of two-door convertible sports cars was known as the R230. It featured a fully retractable hardtop that was marketed as the Vario roof, a first for the SL Class although it had been available on the smaller SLK model since 1997. The flagship models were built by AMG in the form of the SL55 and SL65, b..
When the Klaus Kapitza designed 8 Series was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1989, it felt like a glimpse into the future with its angular styling. An upmarket range with superior performance and price tag to match, the 8 Series was designed to be a standalone premium model although seen to be the successor to the 6 Series. The 8 Series was..
The 2003 E-Class was larger than its predecessors while offering less interior space, particularly in the estate version, than the W210 it replaced. It offered petrol or diesel engines with a choice of rear or four-wheel drive. The redesigned 2003 model featured electrohydraulic braking system marketed as Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC), which was ..
Historically, the E-Class is Mercedes-Benz' best-selling model, with more than 13 million sold by 2015. The first E-Class series was originally available as a four-door saloon, five-door estate, two-door coupé and two-door convertible. From 1997 to 2009, the equivalent coupé and convertible were sold under the Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class nameplate; whi..
The Jaguar XJS was a luxury grand tourer produced from 1975 through to 1996 and replaced the E-Type. Although it never had quite the same sporting image, the XJS was actually more aerodynamic with the last one being produced on 4th April 1996; at that stage 115,413 had been manufactured during a 21 year production life. Power came from the Jaguar V..
The Spider designation for the open top sports cars originates from the word, speeder, and a two-person open horse carriage. The Alfa Romeo 105/115 Series Spider was produced from 1966 to 1993, remaining in production for almost three decades with only minor aesthetic and mechanical changes. Widely regarded as a design classic, this fourth series v..
The in-house model name at Mercedes-Benz for the SL launched in 1989 was the R129 and it was produced until 2002. Launched as a two door, two-seater roadster with an automated textile roof with a shell like, colour matched powered tonneau cover. This new model featured many innovative details for the time including the option of electronically cont..