The first street example of a Mercedes-Benz SL — the 300 “gullwing” — made its world debut in 1954, attracting a host of notable celebrities to ownership of what was and certainly still is one of the most spectacular and beautiful automotive art forms available in its day.
More than sixty years later, the legend continues with four SL Coupe/Roadster combo versions for 2017 — the Mercedes-Benz SL 450 and SL 550, as well as two AMG variants for which there are no major modifications.
The SL 450, formerly known as the SL 400, gets its motive force from a 3.0-liter, DOHC, 24-valve, intercooled bi-turbo V6 with direct injection and forced induction that delivers 362 horsepower in a range from 5,500-6,000 rpm, while producing 369 pound feet of torque from 2,000-4,200 rpm.
The engine is longitudinally mounted up front and mates to a 9G-Tronic seven-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters, tuned for quicker shifts, gearing energy to the rear wheels.
No longer ragtops, the SL models are power retractable hardtop convertibles, with the capability of lowering and raising in a mere 12 seconds with the touch of a single switch.
Up front are cleaner surfaces, restyled headlights, and a new grille that draws its inspiration from 300SL that won the Carrera PanAmericana in 1952, and giving the car a distinctive face that displays an air of elegance.
[...] today’s vehicular requirements by both consumers and governmental safety czars dictate the final build elements of any given vehicle, so if it doesn’t meet with everyone’s design ideals — so what.
The rear track is impressively wide and the entire car displays strong definitive character lines and sculpted effects from the broad, athletic nose, over the straked hood and along the strong shoulder lines past the sharply raked windshield.
From the moment of entry, when one slides into the driver’s seat, behind the 3-spoke, flat-bottom steering wheel and presses the start button, there is immediately the realization that this is no ordinary motorcar.
There are no less than eight individual safety systems at work, contributing to the well being of both the occupants and the vehicle itself.
There’s a Comfort setting, a Sport mode, A Sport + mode (my personal favorite), an Individual setting that allows for adjusting, or fine tuning one’s personal preferences; and an ECO mode for those who wish to satisfy guilt pangs about abusing the ecology with the car’s high performance capabilities.
