Lot details Registration No: EGF465B Chassis No: 11304220003336 Mot Expiry: March 2013
This right-hand drive, manual gearbox 230SL with Power Assisted Steering is a 1964 example finished in White and trimmed in Blue Leathercloth. It is understood to have been purchased new for the wife of a London-based diplomat. He was then transferred to Hong Kong, so they took the car with them, where it remained until 1998, accumulating very few miles. At this stage it was repatriated and passed to its second keeper, who retained it for four years before selling it, via a specialist dealer, to its owner for over 10 years, Dr Gavin Brown, who kept the Benz until his death in 2011.
During this time, it became a very well known car at Mercedes-Benz Club events. He fastidiously kept records of any work carried out on the car, plus all old MOT certificates back to 2004, when the indicated mileage is understood to have been 20,374. According to his wife, although 'EGF 465B' was in good order when they acquired it, Dr Brown wanted to return it to 'as new' condition so they could enjoy continental rallies following his retirement. He therefore employed Mercedes-Benz restorers including Paul Mazzoni of Port Glasgow and T & D Heaney of Northern Ireland to restore the bodywork, suspension, power steering etc to a suitably high standard - apparently no significant engine work was required. The restoration work was staged over a period of 10 years at a cost of circa £45,000 and the related bills and photographs are contained within the car's history file.
According to the vendor, the bodywork, engine and four-speed gearbox are "excellent", the interior trim "as new following a recent retrim", and the paintwork "extremely good". He says the 230SL "drives and handles like a new pagoda, with no knocks, squeaks or rattles. All of the instruments work including the clock and radio and the car has some of its original toolkit. The recent MOT examiner stated it was structurally the best Pagoda he'd seen. The engine's compressions are also perfect, as you'd expect of a low mileage car". The current odometer reading of 27,500 is believed, but not warranted, to represent the total mileage covered from new.
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