1976 Mercedes 450SL for sale by owner - Enfield, CT - craigslist (2024)

Last year I purchased a 1976 Mercedes 450SL, from an individual in upstate New York. I had searched for well over a year, and this was an exceptional car. I think for some reason I developed a fondness for a 107-style yellow SL, after seeing the movie “Max Dugan Returns”. Suffice to say, I liked the movie. I refused to deal with any rust. He had purchased the car from a dealer in Florida and began the refurbishing process. The car’s history showed in went “new” to California, then Hawaii, then back to California and then Florida. I have all of that documentation. The car is absolutely rust free. The gentleman in New York who purchased the car began his endeavor by having various repairs done at a local foreign car repairer and I think became overwhelmed by the cost. I have a vast amount of documentation on the car which shows that in 2006, a California Mercedes dealership did a $17,000 restoration (paint and interior) and that the car had been driven very few miles since that was done. The California Mercedes dealership did a total of $21,698 of work on the car during that time period. One of my closest friends is an exceptional mechanic and owns a sizable towing a repair business, which put me in a slightly better position, since I am no mechanic. The interior of the car was/is absolutely perfect. I replaced the radio and speakers, put on a new soft top, new wheels, new tires, did extensive work on the steering, brakes, and a host of other nagging issues. I have debated repainting the hood and truck area because of some minor blemishes but hesitate because the car presents very well. The headliner on the hardtop looks brand new. The hardtop has a stand and cover and I doubt it has had much use. The top release cables have all been replaced. When they are broken or frozen, removing the top can be an “adventure”.

This is a serious vintage Mercedes that has most (if not all) of the hard and expensive things done. It isn’t a clunker that has kicked around backyards for decades. You can buy them all day for less money, but you have to be prepared to put money, time and effort into it. This SL runs strong and shifts the way it is supposed to. If you have a serious interest, I can arrange to have the car put on a lift for your inspection. I am asking $15,000 (cash) for the car and I am firm on that price. I have far more than that in the car, which should be obvious, but I’ve tried to be realistic with my asking price. If it doesn’t sell it will live in my garage aside one of my other “toys” and see the outside world on sunny Sunday afternoons.

As I mentioned, the car has a hard top, stand and cover. As I think is the case with most of these cars, the hard top gets very little use and is most likely damaged, when in storage. I have a ceiling mounted storage device/hoist for the hardtop, that I never installed, that will go with the car. There is currently 106,000 on the odometer and the AC works perfectly. For all intent purposes, the car is where I wanted it to be. Clearly, there are less expensive SL’s out there, but they aren’t like this one.