The door cards were both just falling off the door until I glued them back in place recently. The interior trim is not particularly worn, but it is quite flimsy. The trim inside is a little worn, but the leather is good and everything electrical, like cruise control, electric mirrors, sound system and alarm all function with no problems. The engine and gearbox run like new, and the roof works perfectly. My car is 19 years old, and has done just 53,000 miles. A huge number of them were made in silver, though other colours were available, a stunning yellow, black, white, green, blue and for the example we’re going to look at here, Imperial Red. The most common configuration for those early SLK was the R170 SLK230 Kompressor, with a 2.3 litre straight four engine fitted with a compressor – and mostly with an automatic gearbox. A lot of these changes have detracted somewhat from the original design in my opinion, so I’m very happy to be reviewing an original car, before it was messed about with and turned into something else - nice though the something else is I’m sure. The very first SLKs are now over 20 years old and I would argue they are therefore just about ready for Classic Car status – though I have no idea who actually decides these things – an autonomous collective? The car has gone through some changes over the years, notably recently becoming an SLC – which seems a bit of daft move by Mercedes but there you go. The car was an instant success, and was named the SLK, translated this stands for Sporty, Light and Short (Sportlich, Leicht und Kurz). Incorporated in the design was a ‘killer’ feature - not a totally new idea, but new to the mass market and beautifully implemented - the ‘Vario’ hydraulic roof. In the mid-1990s Mercedes Benz came up with a relatively cheap, relatively cheerful, concept for a new sports car. Lots of fun for not much cash - and surely soon to be a classic
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |