Here at SLSHOP, we have had many customers over the years who love to tell us the story of their SL.
Mark’s wife of twenty years, Rebecca, has recently inherited a very special Mercedes-Benz 107 SL. The car belonged to her ‘nana’ who bought it new back in 1984, and the car has remained in the family ever since. While many SLs today are treated like the family silver, this one was more like the family labrador.
Mark tells us: “The car has been in the family for 34 years. Rebecca has grown up with it in that time. She remembers it being bought and being driven around in it by her nana as she sat in the back.
“It was an everyday car back then and doubled as many things, not least a pick-up truck. There were straw bales and horse feed ferried around in the boot! But that’s how it was; it was bought as a daily run-around, not a flash-investment. Rebecca’s nana liked it and used it every day.”
The car has seen minimal use in recent years, with Mark occasionally washing it, taking it for petrol and giving it a ‘blast out’ every six months or so. However, it shows signs of many years of heavy usage and until its recent first visit to SLSHOP, had not been seen by a specialist classic car garage.
Mark found SLSHOP through the internet and has been thrilled with the service he has received so far.
Mark said: “There are lots of places that do classic car repairs and services. To be honest, it’s all new to me.
“That Initial contact I had with SLSHOP set it off for me. I spoke to Russ and he said to bring the car up to the garage. It was a great service, and I couldn’t have asked for better.
“Initially, I needed the roof taking off. It had sat on there for 34 years, and weighing 74 kilos, I didn’t want to risk dropping it or breaking it. They took the roof off and stored it here for me – I ended up coming back a week later as I needed help to get the canvas top back on!”
While the SL was in the workshop, a health check was carried out to give it the once over and look for any of the common issues that affect them.
“The service was absolutely fantastic. There were a couple of things that came up in the health check – stuff that the naked eye, or untrained eye, couldn’t see. It was helpful to have things opened up and see what needs to be doing on the car.
“It’s a labour of love to get it back up to where it should be. It looks fine from the outside, but obviously there is no point having a nice-looking car if it’s going to break down at the side of the road or fall to pieces.
“Every stage of the health check was fantastic. We’ve come in and seen it on the ramp a couple of times too.
The car has a lot of sentimental value to Mark’s family and they will now restore it over a few years, investing some money each year in to getting all of the work completed. Of course, the work will be carried out at SLSHOP.
Mark added: “There’s a lot of stories and memories for us that go with the car. The process of going through those health checks and deciding on the direction to go with the car has been fantastic. We’re going to invest money in to the car now in stages and get it looking how it should look. If we spend a little bit of money on it each year, it’s going to look magnificent in a few years. The SLSHOP are specialists in the field and we are confident that we will get the best results by working with them.”
As for plans for the car in the future, Mark and Rebecca plan to keep it as a family car. They’re looking forward to using the SL a lot more and creating new family memories this beloved old SL.
