SL600 / SL60 AMG

[Chris944_S2]

While browsing on Mobile.de I fell on a couple of R129 AMG cars. I know of the V8 SL60, but these two appear to be V12s and more powerful that the standard SL600 (441PS vs. 394PS):
http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/mercedes-benz...

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/mercedes-benz...

My MB beard is mere stubble, so I have a couple of questions. One is called SL60 but may be mis-advertised from the seller, the other is an SL600 with "AMG pack". Are they genuine AMG cars, with a fettled engine? Are there any mechanical differences between these and an SL600, or is it just engine mapping?

They're cheaper than similar mileage V8 SL60's with more power, so I'm not sure if they are genuine AMG products or not.

[pavka007]

They are for real:
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/1544/Mercedes-B...
http://classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php...

Never the less the both link showing V8 not V12 as per your post, so still a mystery

Edited by pavka007 on Saturday 27th July 20:57

Edited by pavka007 on Saturday 27th July 20:57

[tigerkoi]

Of the R129s, there was the following:

SL60 AMG - 6L, V8 (no more than two dozen-ish in the UK; couple of current and previous owners here on the forums who I'm sure can elucidate further)
SL70 AMG - 7L, V12 (extremely rare)
SL73 AMG - 7.3L, V12. The one that had the engine purloined most famously for the Zonda. Very rare.

There was also a '55 AMG. But this was not supercharged like the latter R230. Not common. At all.

I think it fair to say that prior to the early 2000s, before the R230 SL55, the C43, E55 etc, AMGs were a far more exotic and lesser produced sub-breed. The ties between the two houses, M-B and AMG were only starting to formalise, and anyone who went to the time - and expense - of sourcing an AMG model, was really getting a product far less ubiquitous than it is now. I think of all R129's that were AMG'd, there were only 280, 290, something like that. In total. By comparison, over 1200 R230 '55s were produced for the US alone in 2003.

In case of the SL600: well there was just the SL600, a V12. Certainly not common, and a cracking car. But it's a standard M-B offering. Anything that says 'AMG pack' or the like, is someone using judicious advertising to push the fact it might have the alloys, or some other addenda. But facts are facts, there is no literal thing as an SL600 AMG.

[iluvmercs]

tigerkoi said:

In case of the SL600: well there was just the SL600, a V12. Certainly not common, and a cracking car. But it's a standard M-B offering. Anything that says 'AMG pack' or the like, is someone using judicious advertising to push the fact it might have the alloys, or some other addenda. But facts are facts, there is no literal thing as an SL600 AMG.

Hi tigerkoi. Long time no speak

There was actually AMG power pack offer for the M120 on the standard 600 engine. I believe this raised the 6.0 V12's power to around 420bhp - interestingly the same figure as the unofficial power rating of the 6.0 V8 in the SL60.
You would factory order a stock 600, but then could also order AMG to fit their suspension, wheels and bodykit for a standard 600.

Also, I understand that if checked, the SL70s and 73s will come back as 600s as they were order from Mercedes as these before being sent off to AMG for tuning.

Back then AMGs were sold through dealers, but in some cases, complete cars would be ordered, then sent off for tuning in the same way they had done before AMG and Mercedes had an affiliation.
Despite this, you could still order a full AMG through a Mercedes dealer (where before you ordered your Mercedes and AMG tuning with each company separately).
This happened with the V12 engined R129, W140s and C140s. I think even genuine W202 C55s will come back as C43s.

How it was denoted, I'm not 100% sure. IIRC, "AMG Tuning" with an associated HWA number code was used.

It is all a bit odd and confusing because of the unofficial, then official and finally in-house associations Mercedes had with AMG.

In fact, my Mercedes Indy picked up a customer's blind Ebay buy of what he thought was an SL600 with an AMG bodykit, suspension and wheels (unfortunately now replaced with SL55 turbine alloys).
Upon checking the full chassis number with Mercedes, they discovered it was in fact of these SL600s which was order through Mercedes as a full AMG.
Upon the cars completion, it was sent to AMG for bodykit, suspension and the alloys, but also their power pack to the standard 6 litre V12.




Darren

Edited by iluvmercs on Saturday 27th July 22:28

[BlueMR2]

Wheels aside that's very nice.

[Chris944_S2]

iluvmercs said:

How it was denoted, I'm not 100% sure. IIRC, "AMG Tuning" with an associated HWA number code was used.

Thanks for the info!
After some googling I found a German forum showing an engine sticker with a HWA number:


In that forum he suggests that the changes are camshafts, valve springs, ported and polished heads and AMG exhaust.
http://www.nast-sonderfahrzeuge.de/MB-Exotenforum/...

[tigerkoi]

iluvmercs said:

tigerkoi said:

In case of the SL600: well there was just the SL600, a V12. Certainly not common, and a cracking car. But it's a standard M-B offering. Anything that says 'AMG pack' or the like, is someone using judicious advertising to push the fact it might have the alloys, or some other addenda. But facts are facts, there is no literal thing as an SL600 AMG.

Hi tigerkoi. Long time no speak

There was actually AMG power pack offer for the M120 on the standard 600 engine. I believe this raised the 6.0 V12's power to around 420bhp - interestingly the same figure as the unofficial power rating of the 6.0 V8 in the SL60.
You would factory order a stock 600, but then could also order AMG to fit their suspension, wheels and bodykit for a standard 600.

Also, I understand that if checked, the SL70s and 73s will come back as 600s as they were order from Mercedes as these before being sent off to AMG for tuning.

Back then AMGs were sold through dealers, but in some cases, complete cars would be ordered, then sent off for tuning in the same way they had done before AMG and Mercedes had an affiliation.
Despite this, you could still order a full AMG through a Mercedes dealer (where before you ordered your Mercedes and AMG tuning with each company separately).
This happened with the V12 engined R129, W140s and C140s. I think even genuine W202 C55s will come back as C43s.

How it was denoted, I'm not 100% sure. IIRC, "AMG Tuning" with an associated HWA number code was used.

It is all a bit odd and confusing because of the unofficial, then official and finally in-house associations Mercedes had with AMG.

In fact, my Mercedes Indy picked up a customer's blind Ebay buy of what he thought was an SL600 with an AMG bodykit, suspension and wheels (unfortunately now replaced with SL55 turbine alloys).
Upon checking the full chassis number with Mercedes, they discovered it was in fact of these SL600s which was order through Mercedes as a full AMG.
Upon the cars completion, it was sent to AMG for bodykit, suspension and the alloys, but also their power pack to the standard 6 litre V12.




Darren

Hey Darren, yep, long time no speak

The AMG history certainly is labyrinthine....but certainly interesting. It's the unofficial/official timeline and what happened when, that really has always drawn me in, wanting to know more. And I always enjoy having the factual gaps filled in for me

With slight irony, wandering through Canary Wharf recently, I saw that they have two of the new R231 SLs on a plinth in the open area. One is an SL63 AMG. The other, an SL500. Or more accurately the SL500 AMG Sport. How confusing!

[FLC2020]

The Aquamarine Blue was my car you can see my name on the logbook as last previous owner. I traded the car in December 2011

I put the exhaust on whilst I had the car Previous owner did the mirrors, xenon's, indicators, Rings around instrument clusters.

I sold the original alloys AMG 2 Piece for good money and brought the turbines off ebay.

The cars a Standard SL600 with factory AMG body kit from new, No performance pack.

Calvin

[Podie]

Interesting thread - knew very little of these SLs!

[hungry_hog]

Does the SL73 have the same crazy sound as the Zonda S? Obviously the Zonda has a different exhaust system but there must be some similarities?