SL60 and SL73 AMG

[richard300]

Just starting thinking about what car to get next.... and i think i might go for an R129 series mercedes SL (probably a 300sl 12valve)....

Whilst looking about on the internet for things to look out for and what colours seem to suit the car best, i came accross some images of the SL73 AMG, but not much information.....

Now whilst i have no intention of buying a SL60 or an SL73, i am intrigued about these two models... how many were produced in RHD, and i beleive the SL60 is based upon the V8, but is the SL73 based on the V8 or the V12 and if its based on the V12 then does it have much in common with the 7.3 litre V12 AMG engines found in the Zonda?

Any info, pics, specs etc would be nice....

Also....

How rare is the cloth seat trim in the R129..... I quite like it, but only seen one car with it as opposed to full leather.

Thanks...

[Vesuvius 996]

The 73 is the Zonda engine.

[richard300]

Thats interesting, and although i assume it must be in a different state of tune, it still makes the SL73 sound an impressive car indeed....

Only seen ones in japan though....

[The Walrus]

SL7.3 not sure if that exists, is that not the brabus engine ? based on the 6.5 V12 twin turbo lump.

You have the SL63 AMG - 6.3 Ltr V8 N/A and you also have the SL65 AMG which is the V12 twin turbo lump.

[Vesuvius 996]

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1145/Mercedes-B...

Edited by Vesuvius 996 on Wednesday 17th September 13:33

[richard300]

I am talking about the previous generation SL....

here is a pic of one (that does not live in japan...lol)....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd...

[The Walrus]

Note to self read thread properly !!

For some reason I was thinking you were talking about the current range of SL's not the older version.

As per the article rare as rocking horse doo doo dah dah day by the looks of it.

[dazren]

On a R129.

The SL73 will be a 7.3 litre V12 as used by Brabus in 580bhp guise, probably done by Brabus although AMG may have made a few to special order?.

The SL60, will be a bored out 6 litre V8, sold under the AMG badge.

[iluvmercs]

The SL60 is a very rare car....the SL73 is as rare as hen's teeth.

SL60s come on the market every now again, and only a few dozen were reported to be made in RHD.
381bhp officially, but owners believe 400bhp+ is a better figure. This is because Mercedes didn't want the a "lesser" V8 being officially more powerful than their 6.0 V12 in the SL600.
Facelift ones look better in my opinion, and will obviously benefit from faclift specification.

The SL73 was special order only. It didn't appear on Mercedes pricelists - AMGs being sold through dealers by this time. SL73s rare come on to the LHD market, let alone the RHD market. There was ONE that came on the market - an ex-Sultan of Brunei car, with slightly more power. This was a 44,000 mile example and was around £40,000. Charles Ironside was the seller.
There was one LHD SL73 for sale on mobile.de, but this was over 170,000 Euros when I last looked!
"Standard" SL73s were hugely expensive (the base V12 SL600 being over £100,000 at the time). Power is 525bhp and 0-62 in 4.7secs.
As for this engine being in the Zonda....I once read (although cannot confirm) that the Zonda block is slightly different. Although based on the same Mercedes M120 V12, the Zonda's 7.0 and 7.3 V12s have a stronger block to cope with the higher stresses of a more powerful unit than the engines used in CL/S/SL70 & 73 AMG models.

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Wednesday 17th September 15:12

[richard300]

Thanks Darren.....

And from the very last part of your post, i can asume that AMG produced a CL73 AMG? now that sounds like my kinda car!!! (in Blue Black metalic,with an exhaust tuned to make the same kinda noise a Zonda makes)....

Edited by richard300 on Wednesday 17th September 16:34

[iluvmercs]

richard300 said:

Thanks Darren.....

And from the very last part of your post, i can asume that AMG produced a CL73 AMG? now that sounds like my kinda car!!! (in Blue Black metalic,with an exhaust tuned to make the same kinda noise a Zonda makes)....

No problem, Richard.
I've never a proper S or CL73 as yet. In Japan, there was once a S73 AMG Estate for sale! This had CL front end conversion But yes, they would have had a CL73 available, but, again, they were special order, so any prosective client would have to have known about the model.

There are a reported 2 RHD CL70's that were produced. Both I've seen for sale, and were badged "CL700". One is Green/Black, one is Blue/Black. The Blue/Black one was for sale for over a year, eventually coming off the market priced at £20,000 (having dropped £10,000 over that year). That's a 7.0 V12 and just shy of 500bhp

Darren

[yellowtr]

I saw an SL73 once-in all places, Wandsworth High Street. Was stunned as it has always be perceived as an urban myth, but I knew it existed but need proof. It was on UK plates as well.

[Callughan]

iluvmercs said:

richard300 said:

Thanks Darren.....

And from the very last part of your post, i can asume that AMG produced a CL73 AMG? now that sounds like my kinda car!!! (in Blue Black metalic,with an exhaust tuned to make the same kinda noise a Zonda makes)....

No problem, Richard.
I've never a proper S or CL73 as yet. In Japan, there was once a S73 AMG Estate for sale! This had CL front end conversion But yes, they would have had a CL73 available, but, again, they were special order, so any prosective client would have to have known about the model.

There are a reported 2 RHD CL70's that were produced. Both I've seen for sale, and were badged "CL700". One is Green/Black, one is Blue/Black. The Blue/Black one was for sale for over a year, eventually coming off the market priced at £20,000 (having dropped £10,000 over that year). That's a 7.0 V12 and just shy of 500bhp

Darren

I remember seeing the rhd CL70 for sale on compucars and you were right it did not sell for ages. I think the power was not quite as high as 500hp though.

I've seen two SL60's which were for sale at Twyfords in West London, a blue and a yellow one. From memory the front of the cars were slightly longer than standard. Again these were on sale for ages and eventually went for quite cheap.

[iluvmercs]

Callughan said:

I remember seeing the rhd CL70 for sale on compucars and you were right it did not sell for ages. I think the power was not quite as high as 500hp though

Lifted from the AMG Website


Sorry it's not too clear, but the 7.0's power is 496bhp

Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Wednesday 17th September 23:34

[Callughan]

I recollect reading somewhere a figure of around 444hp.

I may be wrong but I think those are for the 73 models some of which used a 7.0 engine.

Edited by Callughan on Wednesday 17th September 23:57

[Callughan]

btw Darren you on Benz World?

[iluvmercs]

Callughan said:

I recollect reading somewhere a figure of around 444hp.

I may be wrong but I think those are for the 73 models some of which used a 7.0 engine

But wasn't the 73s the 7.3 and 70s the 7.0?

Funnily enough, a special order only pre-facelift W220 S-Class and C215 CL was available with a 6.3 V12 which was rated at 444bhp

Callughan said:

btw Darren you on Benz World?

I lurked there a long time ago, but it realted to American things too much.
I was after a UK based MB forum, so I'm now a member of mbclub.co.uk

Darren

[Callughan]

Either way the car needs a hell of alot of power just to move due to it substantial weight. I used to have the 500 as lovely as it was, it was hardly rapid, my best friend still has a 600 and that is more effortless however in this day and age, not to quick but still lovely imo.

I remember seeing the CL63 in Queensgate SW7 once it was on Arabic plates '7' with what appeared to be a child driving it.

I asked about Benz World as I thought I had come across you in the past, before I divorced the marques.lol

All the best,

C

[iluvmercs]

Callughan said:

I asked about Benz World as I thought I had come across you in the past, before I divorced the marques.lol

I was "mercboiuk" on there

Darren

[r129sl]

The SL73 AMG properly so-called only came on the scene after the 1998 second facelift. Prior to that, however, AMG would supply the V12 in varying states of tune and extension including 7.3litres. The Ironside car was a 1996 and was badged SL730.

I saw a 1999 SL73 AMG on the Merc stand at Goodwood back in 1999. The engine was utterly spell-binding, all carbonfibre trimmed. There is a marvellous German TV programme in which the SL73 AMG is compared with the Bentley Arnage. It is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQuIETJBP3M

I bet it goes from 100 to 150mph like nobody's business. I do not think any RHD models were built: if one comes up for sale, I'll buy it. The mega expensive one at mobile.de is being sold by the Classic Centre. The cheapest way into one is probably to buy a good SL60 AMG and take it to AMG to be retrofitted with the 7.3litre V12.

Edited by r129sl on Thursday 18th September 22:51