German Car Zone

I just thought I would start a new thread for SLC’s only. These rare cars were never fully appreciated, some people thought the styling looked awkward and out of balance, others like myself think the styling is perfect and almost timeless and wouldn’t change a thing.If you have a standard Mercedes SLC, the car says class and cruising in style. If, on the other hand, you have a SLC AMG like BRUISER pictured below, this car says performance with a subtle yet functional aero kit, wide penta alloy wheels and a white out paint job. No matter what your opinion, it was obvious when Mercedes designed this car that it was original and different. The 107 chassis was developed as a convertible first and then later made in to a coupe, making it a very rigid car suitable for performance driving.
Please feel free to post your own opinions positive or negative, just keep it constructive.

Great car.

The SLC C107 and the W116 S-Class are some of the most under-appreciated and almost forgotten Mercedes' of modern times. I've always preferred the C107 SLC to the R107 SL and the W116 remains my favorite S-Class ever. Weren't the '70s great?

The C107 is indeed something very special among MBs.

It's one of the rare MBs who were very successful in rally, it has an insane wide-body "MAMPE-Lufthansa SLC" big brother, sometimes called "Dalida" (French-Italian singer) because of its strange "eyes"...








Here this is Dalida. her eyes are not quite right, so the MAMPE-Lufthansa SLC is sometimes called Dalida because his eyes are also quite strange..


Here are the SLC rally versions.









The 107 were called "Panzewagen" (Tank) by the developpers back in the time, because of the weight and quality of construction of the new car compared to the gracile Pagoda SL.

The 107 chassis also had the longest run of any MB chassis, 18 years without significant modifications from 1971 to 189. The SLC started in 1973 and was discontinued in 1981 though, and replaced by the superb C126 SEC.

62.888 C107 SLC were sold, for 237.297 R107 SLs, which makes the SLC a very rare vehicle. The SLC also remains the one and only Mercedes Coupe based on a Roadster/Cabrio chassis.

Here are pics of mine, an early 1974 450SLC, re-posted from the SL pictures thread.






225hp, almost 220 km/h, 3-gears auto box.

140.000kms. Electrical sunroof, windows (4 of them) and antenna, central locking, power-steering, manual A/C, very small Pagoda-mirrors (becuase it's an early French model), 14" forged alloys (Bundt/Barock design), headlamps-wipers, rear armrest...

For those who are wondering why Mercedes-benz did use such gigantic steering wheels: it's because of the safety.
Besides front and rear crashzone, safety-cell and safety steering, a soft dashboard (even in the knee area), it features an enormous steering wheel who thus can absorb the shock of someone hitting it on a larger area, reducing the shock. You can't miss the steering, who is deformable and soften the shock for you! Sort of an early Airbag .

Also, such a big steering allows you a free sight at the big instruments. And it is a strong argument not to be fat, because otherwise you can't put your legs under it...

Yes, that is attention to detail. Engineered like no other car in the world, that is a motto that fully applies to the SLC.

Great posts and pics coolraoul. How long have you owned your SLC?

Not very long, maybe 4 months. I had a Golf IV TDI before it...

Mine is in a great shape, only minor rust. Everything works perfectly, but the steering has some play and I have a speed-related noise coming from the rear. I think it's either the central hanger bearing, or the differential (hope it's the bearing...).

I changed the sparking plugs, and the oil of the motor/gearbox/differential, and that's it.

The car is pure dream. Motor is powerful, smooth, and makes a splendid V8-noise at idle, whereas after 3000rpm it becomes quite aggressive. The gearbox is fast and smooth, and the drivetrain is quite impressive even if there is noticeable bodyroll. The giant bonnet is delightful to look at when you drive, the wipers are a pleasure and so funny so close from each other. The driving feeling is just addictive.

Did you know that the A/C and heaters also slightly blow air from the doorpanels? Airscarf sounds soo obvious compared to that... And the glovebox light who can be used as pocket-lamp (mine of course doesn't work any more, dead battery, but that is attention to detail)...

I love every single moment I spend in it. And I already made around 5000kms in it.

What is your average consumption? Mine is around 14l/100km, not that bad!

Mine makes some noise from the rear end aswell, if your rear end is set up similarily to mine it will have quite course heavy gears which naturaly make quite a bit of noise. The rear end in my car is a LSD and is designed for a lot of tourqe and I am not at all conserned about the noise it emits.

Keep these old mercs rolling.

Well I unfortunately don't have the LSD. The drifting abilities of mine are thus a bit limited .
The noise is a siren-like noise, beginning at around 70km/h, increasing with speed. Above 100km/h is quite covered.

You might say, I just should drive at 120km/h all the time, and not care about this noise. True, but unfortunately the French police has become quite sensitive with speeding, and the government is over-zealous with its speed-cameras...

It's a bit annoying without the radio, this noise. So I checked under the car, and I saw a leak at the entry of the differential (so I hope it's not the differential itself, but the central hanger bearing who is faulty, 'cause it's much much cheaper to replace).

BTW, is yours a Euro-spec SLC? It certainly looks like it, and your instruments are not in miles from what I saw. How many hp do you got, is the motor upgraded?
It looks lowered too, but it could be the aerokit.

It looks fully loaded, with auto-A/C (does it work well?), heating seats, sunroof, leather...

The car is fully loaded and ac still works well. The car is euro spec with numerous AMG mods including lowering (good eye). The engine is the 5.0 M117 block, I am still trying to figure what engine option my car has as AMG had 6 for this car all based on the M117 block.
M117 5.0v2 276hp, 5.6v2 300hp, 6.0v2 331hp
M117 5.0v4 ?hp, 5.6v4 ?hp, 6.0v4 385hp 417lb-ft
I was told by the previous owner that the car has 350hp and I will confirm that on a dino in the spring.
Something else that I found interesting is my car came with a 4 speed auto from Mercedes but AMG swapped it for there 3 speed auto.
Redline is 6100rpm and the car does 187 K/h in second gear with a supposed top speed of 234 K/h unverified.

Great thread, great posts both of you.

I'm a big fan of the SLC because it first of all looks very good and secondly because it has been largely "forgotten" by many Mercedes fans. The R107 SL was a nice car, but the SLC, with its longer wheelbase looked far sexier and sportier too.