This 1991 Mercedes-Benz 500SL is finished in Ice Blue Metallic (348) over Blue leather (272) and is powered by a 5.0-liter M119 V8 paired with a four-speed automatic transmission. Equipment includes optional ADS (Adaptive Damping System), a body-color removable hardtop, a hydraulic-folding dark blue soft top, power-adjustable seats with memory, headlight wipers, cruise control, and automatic climate control. Maintenance items addressed include all new top hydraulic cylinders, new battery, valve cover gaskets, transmission fluid flush w/ filter, and a complete dry ice blasting on the underside. This R129 500SL now shows just over 13k miles and is offered by the selling dealer in Marietta, Georgia with one key fob, first aid kit, window sticker, complete tool kit, partial service records, VMI report, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Florida title.
The exterior is finished in Ice Blue Metallic (348) and features a matching removable hardtop, an electric-folding dark blue convertible soft top, headlight wipers, fog lights, fender vents, and a power antenna. The seller has added paint meter readings in the gallery. Both tops present in excellent condition with no headliner sag on the hardtop. New top hydraulic cylinders have been replaced by the seller in preparation for the sale. There is one minor scratch on the front bumper while the rest of the body presents as new. Detailed pictures are provided in the gallery showing straight body lines, no dents, excellent clear coat, and clear lights with no UV damage.
Factory 16″ Gulideckel wheels wear its original Astral Silver finish and are mounted with 225/55 Michelin Premier A/S tires with 2016 date codes. The car is equipped with anti-lock braking system (ABS), automatic slip control (ASR), and active dampening system (ADS). The seller has provided a detailed photo showcasing the ADS system and states there’s no issues with the suspension or braking.
The cabin features power-adjustable seats with memory upholstered in Blue leather (272) along with matching floor mats, carpets, and door panels. The upper dash is finished in blue soft-touch plastic along with a blue leather steering wheel. The center console and door cards are accented with burl wood trim that show zero damage. Equipment includes power windows, automatic climate control, cruise control, and a Becker 1432 head unit. The air conditioning has been converted to R134 and operates as designed.
The blue leather wrapped steering wheel frames instrumentation including a 160-mph speedometer, a 7k-rpm tachometer, an analog clock, and a digital thermometer along with auxiliary gauges for fuel level, oil pressure, instant economy, and coolant temperature. The six-digit odometer shows only 13k miles.
The 5.0-liter M119 V8 was factory rated at 322 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. Early R129s were fueled using Bosch CIS fuel injection which was carried over from the M117. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a four-speed 722.3 automatic transmission. Maintenance performed within the last year is said to include all new top hydraulic cylinders, transmission fluid/filter service, new battery, and valve cover gaskets. In 2009 at 10k miles, this 500SL received spark plugs, fuel filter, air filter, and an A/C refrigerant service.
The Carfax report indicates no accidents or other damage and is now offered by the selling dealer with one key fob, partial service records, a VMI report, tool kit, window sticker, a clean Carfax report, and a clean Florida title.
The seller has included the following video:
We got to spend a considerable amount of time with this example and it’s the new benchmark for how a R129 should drive, smell, ride, and feel. The early CIS cars are where it’s at. They make monstrous power and it takes great, sumptuous strides down the road when you wring out the M119 engine. With the ADS suspension, you can actually hustle the car on a backroad. The big blue W126 steering wheel feels familiar and of absolute quality in the hand and while driving the car you realize just how much cost cutting Mercedes-Benz did to the later R129s. I mean look at the window sticker: $94,225 in 1991! That’s $217,000 today in 2025. With inflation, a 2001 SL500 cost $148,000. Where did that money go? First, the engine. The M119 was a hand assembled DOHC unit and cost 50% more than a SOHC M113. Second, the interior is more W126-quality than anything else to follow. That means real, thick leather and high quality woods with every panel having a nailed down solidity about it. The door shut even feels nicer than a later car. This 500SL is a spectacular example and blew our minds at how good these early cars were. The blue on blue is wonderfully period correct and the seller put a lot of time and effort in getting the mechanicals dialed with an underside clean enough to eat schnitzel and rotkohl off the floor pans. This is an investment grade R129 and essential to a pre-merge collection.
Open Transit:
Enclosed Transit:
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23 Comments
Incredible early r129 and spec! The blue interior is sublime. Cheers to the new owner & seller!Awesome, will call you within the hour. Thank YouCongratulations @CODG! We've left you a voicemail and are looking forward to speaking!$36,000 bid placed by @CODG
$35,500 bid placed by @Karlwho
$35,000 bid placed by @CODG
$34,500 bid placed by @Karlwho
$34,000 bid placed by @europeanauto1
$33,500 bid placed by @Karlwho
$33,000 bid placed by @beachday
$32,500 bid placed by @Karlwho
$32,000 bid placed by @BrenCar
$31,500 bid placed by @europeanauto1
$31,000 bid placed by @Karlwho
$30,500 bid placed by @beachday
I love seeing all the plating on the underside and in the engine bay. Really well preserved example.Guess this one won't be going quietly...$30,000 bid placed by @europeanauto1
$29,500 bid placed by @teamkuo
$29,000 bid placed by @Karlwho
$28,500 bid placed by @BrenCar
$28,000 bid placed by @europeanauto1
$27,500 bid placed by @teamkuo
Congratulations to whoever wins this! Awesome example$27,000 bid placed by @beachday
$26,500 bid placed by @CODG
@blakleyleonard We couldn't have said it better if we tried! ThanksThe preservation of originality in this car is amazing down to the original window sticker. Cars can be restored and parts can be replaced, but they're only original once. Blue over blue with a blue top is about as good as it gets and these early R129's are fantastic classics. Someone will be getting a gem!$26,000 bid placed by @rsoheilian
$25,000 bid placed by @beachday
$22,750 bid placed by @rsoheilian
$22,500 bid placed by @Karlwho
$21,500 bid placed by @teamkuo
$20,000 bid placed by @R129hoarder
$18,750 bid placed by @europeanauto1
@Karlwho Good morning and thanks for the questions and compliments! When we acquired the car, the 2nd key was not with it nor were the previous records unfortunately (Being that the key is NLA we aren't able to replace). Beyond that, that last auction said the cylinders had been replaced but record of that wasn't provided. Shortly after we received the car, one of them failed so we saw fit to replace them out of caution (it's just the right way to treat a car). As for the seatbelt light it was intermittenntly flashing, we did discuss that in the video and had it looked at by our MB tech. There didn't seem to be a direct cause so they couldn't figure out how to track down other than clean some connectors which seems to have done the trick. Hopefully that's a concise enough answer, happy to take time for a phone call as well!Amazing SL! Looking for a bit of clarity on this listing… when this sold on another online auction site back in Aug of ‘22, that listing mentioned this car having all the top hydraulics changed in June of ‘22. This listing says they were replaced in preparation for the sale… has this car had 2 rounds of new cylinders within the last 2.5yrs? Also want to confirm there’s only 1 key now, when it previously had 2 fobs. Lastly, the driving video on the previously listing showed the seatbelt light on. The same light is on in your driving video. Any idea why that hasn’t been sorted? Or what the fix might be?@VIGIL Nah, it's perfect as it is. The 89-92 stock cars retain that quality the 70's and 80's cars had. This one deserves to stay exactly as it is, and I love a 6.0 amg as much as the next man.@VIGIL agreed! It would completely transform it. Nothing wrong with it as-is, it's a gorgeous car but @gasmotorcars is right. These early cars are specialHear me out: this would be an excellent candidate for three-piece AMG Aero IIIs and a Gen I body kit. The early M119.960 engine is as close as we get to a production pre-merge AMG powerplant and this car would benefit from that I reckon.$18,500 bid placed by @BrenCar
$18,000 bid placed by @Owenstill
These CIS cars rule. Early R129s are the way to go an no one really understands that on the SL market. Super slept on.@rsoheilian Only on 93-95 models.Are there any records of the wiring harness being replaced on this particular car? This is a known electrical failure on pre 96 models.$14,000 bid placed by @Sublimekeith
What an absolute time capsule! Great presentation!$13,000 bid placed by @europeanauto1
@CODG We saw the comment about the hood metering thicker than the rest of the car, so we put together a video walking everything through our findings. We stuck our auction specialist on being detective since he's good at sniffing out paintwork. To sum up our findings from the video, yes, the top of the hood has been painted. Under the hood is original paint showing factory cosmoline and adhesive on spots with the VIN sticker being original with no paint lines around it. It appears ONLY the top has been done previously. We see some very light acid rain etching in the paint that matches the rest of the car as well as your usual light wear marks in the clear coat which also aligns with the rest of the body. Our only hint of paint work was two things: There is a 1" square on the hood where you can see the paint has about four recessed divots in the paint the size of .5mm pencil tip. It looks like factory orange peel but the depressions are more severe than factory. This took about 10 minutes of looking with three keen sets of eyes. There are tape lines on the side. We tried to video the tape lines, but it doesn't show up even with the latest iPhone camera. This is after getting a LED flashlight up to the paint and strafing the bulb over the surface. It's so subtle we almost didn't catch it. Theory: This is a very old paint job that was done ether by the best paint shop we've ever seen or it was done by Mercedes-Benz when the car got flagged during a QC check. The orange peel looks factory (which means it's barely visible since pre-merge MB paint is excellent). We are leaning towards factory paintwork when the car was still on the assembly line that got flagged by the QC team. We have seen cars with thicker paint before that's almost impossible to detect. Thanks for the note and happy bidding!$12,500 bid placed by @teamkuo
$10,000 bid placed by @Owenstill
$3,750 bid placed by @Etphonehome
$3,500 bid placed by @BrenCar
$2,500 bid placed by @Etphonehome
Hi, was the hood repainted? Meter reading should be closer to 4-6 it seems. Thank You.$2,250 bid placed by @Mkte
$2,000 bid placed by @europeanauto1
$1,500 bid placed by @NYCdriver
I have the same year and color combination 500SL, but with 48k miles. GLWA!Welcome all to our '91 500SL auction. We've been proud to have this example as part of our collection and it's been a pleasure experiencing this car as MB intended. Please reach out to us along the way with any questions and make sure to watch our video. Happy bidding!@gsxr Thank you, it's stunning in person to see one so original. We thought the same too. Ran the VIN and it's definitely there (option 216).Beautiful car. Odd that the Monroney (window sticker) makes no mention of ADS as either standard or optional equipment.