Arrival

Disassembly

Mechanical

Body & Paint

Detail & Trim

Finish

Stuttgart’s middle-sized SL replaces both the 190-SL and the 300-SL. Neither as hot as the latter nor as cool as the former, it’s a highly refined piece of GT machinery.

A carry-over from the 190-SL is a bulge in the center of the hood, presumably connoting power below. The 230-SL engine, as in the 190-SL, stands bolt upright (unlike the 300-SL engine, which is laid over at a 50° angle-occasioning two power bulges). For the U.S., 230-SLs will have the requisite compromises with Lichteinheit to ensconce all that candlepower in legal enclosures.

The angular body lines arouse very little wind noise (except when’ a window is open) and directional stability is never a problem; the 230-SL seems even less sensitive to crosswinds than the Gibraltar-steady 220SE coupe.

In standard form, the 230-SL is a convertible, with a detachable hard top available as optional equipment. The hard top fastens easily with small locking levers at each corner; it may be fitted while the soft top is folded behind the passenger compartment. An optional transverse seat may be inserted in the space between the top well and the two front seats.

Read more about the Mercedes-Benz SL230 at: http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/mercedes.html