Lot details
Registration No: YTA486E
Chassis No: 11304322001482

- Believed to have been sold new in Germany as a RHD car and recently imported from Japan

- Fitted with automatic transmission, a hard top, and a third rear seat

- An appealing colour combination and a very useable model

The rarest W113 variant, the 250SL, was officially introduced at the March 1967 Geneva Salon. Blessed with the same effortlessly elegant Paul Bracq styling as its earlier sibling, it was powered by a new seven-bearing crankshaft 2496cc SOHC straight-six engine that developed some 150bhp and 159lbft of torque - sufficient outputs to endow the Mercedes with a 0-60mph time of a whisker under 11 seconds and a top speed just north of 120mph. Braking was by power-assisted discs on all four corners, and steering by power-assisted recirculating ball.

Able to blur the divide between city streets and open roads with ease, the majority of 250SLs were specified with four-speed automatic gearboxes. Faster than the 230SL which preceded it yet more stiffly-sprung and agile than its 280SL successor, the 250SL remained in production for just a single year, accounting for a mere 5,196 sales worldwide, more than a third of which were exported to America. A cult car by any standards, SLs have had countless celebrity owners from Charlton Heston to Kate Moss, John Lennon to Sophia Loren and Peter Ustinov to Stirling Moss. They have also starred in myriad films, including: 'Tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy'; 'The Baader Meinhof Complex' and 'Frost/Nixon'.

This white automatic example was reportedly sold new in Germany in right hand drive configuration. The vendor has no proof of this but perhaps it was supplied to someone in the Forces stationed in Germany. The car seems to be well travelled as it was imported from Japan a few years ago and has been enjoyed by the vendor for the last couple of years. Accompanied by a hard top and third sideways rear seat, the vendor describes the car as having "good bodywork and interior trim" and an "excellent engine".