It’s now 25 years since DaimlerChrysler (as it was back then) bought 51 per cent of AMG shares, and the company that was Aufrect, Melcher and Grossaspach became Mercedes-AMG. We all know what happened from there: a huge expansion of AMG product as Mercedes sought to leverage all that Affalterbach expertise (and brand cache) to give its range a shot in the arm. Some of it was fantastic - some of it felt like an AMG model for the sake of it.
This is why the pre-merger cars have become so desirable of late. There just isn’t one you wouldn’t want. A closer collaboration was agreed upon in 1993, where Mercedes and AMG would work together on cars (the first being the C36 AMG) instead of AMG offering independent tuning, but really all of the pre-’99 stuff is hot property right now. Even ignoring the obvious, earlier stuff like the Hammer, those last few years of the '90s produced some really notable AMGs, including the W124-based E36 and E60 AMG, a C55 of the first C-Class, the crazy V12 S-Classes and, of course, all manner of silly SL - this 60 is one of them.
The R129 era of SL is much loved: tougher than the car that succeeded it but newer and more usable than a predecessor first launched in the '70s. This car ran from 1989 to 2001, and the SL60 arrived soon after the original collaboration was agreed. But AMG was very much still the junior partner in the deal, and of course much less well known than the Mercedes mothership. So the V8-powered 60 wasn’t allowed to be more powerful than the V12 600, and it’s hard to imagine very much marketing was dedicated to the AMG model. As a result (also since it cost £110,000), just 49 right-hand drive SL60 AMGs were sold.
There is a little more to the story, however. Because while officially the AMG was rated at 381hp (against 389hp for the SL600), it’s commonly accepted that the V8 was more like 400hp strong. What a V8, too, the AMG featuring an evolution of the legendary four-valve M119 engine - also used in the 500E, twin turbo’d for use in the Sauber C9 and so on. The later, three-valve M113 wasn’t loved quite so much by the aficionados.
Speaking of which, this SL60 has clearly been cherished by people who knew they owned something special. Despite being 30 years old next year, it’s still yet to reach 50,000 miles, the service history reputedly shows no gaps whatsoever, and every single MOT certificate is present for the car, stretching back a quarter of a century. In chronological order, of course. There were 22 options added to this SL when new, so someone obviously pushed the boat out in the mid-'90s. Still has real presence, too, the chunky split rim wheels ensuring everyone knows this isn’t just any old R129 SL. Which the sound ought to help with, too. There’s nothing about the condition, inside or out, under bonnet or behind the fuel filler cap, that would suggest it’s been anything but very carefully looked after.
The asking price is £50k, or about double what a similar car would have cost last time we wrote about one. This was a decade ago, sure, though only goes to show how interest has increased in 20th-century AMG muscle cars. Far newer and more powerful SLs can also be bought for the money, of course, though few are ever going to have the allure of a 60. Sometimes the old ways really are the best, and seldom does that adage seem truer than with a classic AMG.
SPECIFICATION | MERCEDES-BENZ SL60 AMG (R129)
Engine: 5,956cc V8
Transmission: Four-speed automatic, RWD
Power (hp): 381@5,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 428@3,750rpm
CO2: N/A
MPG: Very few!
First registered: 1995
Recorded mileage: 45,469
Price new: £110,000
Yours for: £49,995
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