Quentin Willson on falling Mercedes-benz SLS and rising... Ford Mondeos?
Picking up the pieces after the W113’s 2017/’18 jamboree could land you a 2021 bargain
The W113 Mercedes SL, or Pagoda as most prefer to call it, has fallen in value quite substantially. In 2017/18 dozens of international dealers and restorers paraded a beauty contest of amazingly restored examples priced at £250k (and more) but the market couldn’t get its head round the concept of ‘The quarter-of-a-million pagoda’ and values slid back. But now might be a good time to reconsider those perfect, mint W113s because many are now back on the market for between £100k and £150k – which will be what they cost to restore. The recalibration of Pagoda prices means that there’s some serious value in those mint, chequebook restoration cars that now need nothing.
In March 2021, Silverstone dispatched an early ’64, Uk-supplied 230SL manual – totally restored in 2017 and still looking wonderful
– for £100,125 then in April Brightwells drew £91k for a really lovely ’69 280SL with history. They look sensibly priced when you see what other fully restored SLS are being sold for in the trade. Graeme Hunt in London has just taken £225k for a 1970 Uk-supplied 280SL auto – in best-selling Silver with £281,000-worth of bills. And that Everest-sized mountain of invoices didn’t include the cost of the car in the first place.
Moral of story with W113s right now is that if you can find for one of these ‘fastidiously restored’ examples privately or at auction at between £100k and £175k, you’ll not only be buying at less than cost but also below the potential market value when life gets back to normal. I reckon the evergreen W113 will pick up sharply when sunshine and optimism returns. UK right-hand-drive examples carry a premium, 280SLS in manual guise are really rare and only 10% of production, while the manual 230s represented 75% of production. The body number should match on the bonnet, hardtop, hood frame and hood cover and having period histories, stamped-up service books and few past owners adds huge value. We never stopped loving the W113, we just thought they got a bit overpriced. Now, really exceptional ones feel like bargains.
‘There’s some serious value in restored minters’