Eighteen years. That’s how long the R107 version of the Mercedes-Benz SL was on sale. It was launched into the era of the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon, the topping out of the World Trade Centre and Jackie Stewart winning the F1 title in a Tyrell. By the time production ended we were in a world of Tiananmen Square protests, McDonalds in Moscow and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Everything changed, yet perhaps Mercedes reasoned that in tumultuous times not all change was growth.
Its predecessor, the achingly pretty W113 – or ‘Pagoda’ – series was a relative cranefly in terms of durability, in market for a mere eight years. This Paul Bracq design evolved what we expected from an SL, morphing the design language away from the voluptuous ’50s shapes, combining a more lantern-jawed, slab-sided look for the ’60s with elfin pillars and a delicate, airy stance over its wheels.
The R107 refined that aesthetic, with conceptual body design courtesy of Ferdinand Hellhage and Josef Gallitzendörfer, the latter helping shape the successor R129 car credited largely to Bruno Sacco. Sketches show the base silhouette, but the personality and details of the R107 were very much the work of Friedrich Geiger’s team at the MB studio in Sindelfingen.
The subtlety of the compound curves in what was initially a workmanlike basic proposal, the near-perfect judgment of body brightwork and the creation of not only a short-wheelbase convertible but also a longer wheelbase 2+2 coupe – the C107 SLC – was a triumph for Geiger, a notoriously difficult perfectionist whose resume also included icons like the 300SL Gullwing, to finally sign off.
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Wheels Australia Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Wheels Australia Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
JAGUAR XE
JAGUAR WAVES GOODBYE TO LOWER-END PRODUCTS”
LOTS TO LIKE, NIGGLES TO FIX
MAZDA'S BOLDEST SUV YET WAVES GOODBYE, BUT IS IT A HIT OR A MISS?
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE MORNING
ELLEN'S UP WITH THE LARKS BUT GETS AN UNWELCOME EARLY MORNING ALARM
LAND OF CONFUSION
OR HOW THE GENESIS GV80 STILL MANAGES TO KNOT THE BROWS OF THE UNINITIATED
CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
NAME YOUR TOP 10 HOT HATCHES AND WE’LL BET NONE OF THEM HAVE BATTERIES. THE ABARTH SO0E AND MINI COOPER SE AIM TO POWER INTO THAT OPPORTUNITY
Polar expresS
A DROP-TOP FERRARI ON THE COLDEST DAY OF THE YEAR? ANDY ENRIGHT RUGS UP FOR A FRESH BLAST THROUGH SOUTH GIPPSLAND'S FINEST ROADS
DYNASTY REUNION
AHEAD OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE GS0 BMW Mo, WE FIND OUT WHICH GENERATION OF MUNICH'S SUPER-SEDAN IS THE GREATEST EVER
FORD CAPRI
THE EV YOU ALWAYS PROMISED YOURSELF?
VOLKSWAGEN TOUAREG R
TOP-TIER TOUAREG DELIVERS WHAT YOU EXPECT FROM THAT R BADGE
MG 4 X-POWER
MG TAKES A MULLIGAN ON THE X-POWER