Precious Metal – The 2002 Silver Arrow Limited Edition SL500 was a specially rimmed run-out model celebrating the very successful R129 SL Range

Article Matt Stone
Images Matt Stone and Mel Stone
 
As the 1980s wound to a close, the R107 SL roadster called the “panzerwagen” had served long and well. With its introduction in 1972, the R107 had been a fresh advancement on the much loved Pagoda that flew the Mercedes-Benz roadster flag with aplomb. It was expensive, had an air of exclusivity and sold a whisker shy of 238,000 units during its 17-year production run, not including the C107 SLC coupe version.

The new SL to replace the 107, internally designated R129, was designed from a clean sheet of paper. Virtually none of the outgoing car’s design cues would remain in the effort led by gifted Daimler-Benz design chief Bruno Sacco. Sacco’s concept included smoother, yet muscular flanks and more aerodynamically integrated front grille, lighting and bumpers, plus a safer and fully automatic convertible top.

At the time, there was considerable paranoia over convertibles’ safety; several American carmakers abandoned convertibles altogether in the mid-’70s fearing the federal government might outlaw them altogether, but Mercedes-Benz couldn’t afford to lose the U.S. market.

In response, design engineer Karl-Heinz Baumann and his team created an automatically deployed rollover bar to add the safety element the marketplace desired: The roll bar remained folded flat to the deck until triggered by rollover sensors in the car. Combined with stronger A-pillars and windshield surround, the bar could support the weight of the car upside down and provide protection for occupants: The structure was tested extensively and proved up to the task after many rigorous crash certifications and rollover simulations.

Over the deployable rollover bar, the designers incorporated a fully automatic soft top, an important marketing decision that eliminated the manual task of removing, folding and storing the roof – particularly onerous in the rain. As with most previous SLs, a removable hardtop was offered for coupe-like driving.

The new SL made its auto show debut at Geneva in 1989, coming to North America as a 1990 model year and was an instant sales smash with buyers: The fresh style, up-to-date technology, convenience features and revolutionary safety systems resonated. Its cachet was unmatched: The prevailing joke was that a woman couldn’t swing a Fendi bag in Beverly Hills or Palm Beach without hitting an SL. And while British royalty tends to stick with local brews for wheels, tongues wagged when Lady Diana Spencer (then fiancée to Prince Charles) dumped her Jaguar in favor of a bright red SL, though she would ultimately cave to media pressure and adopt a Jag.

Mercedes-Benz kept the R129 SL fresh with continuous updates and a range of special models offered during its successful 12-year run. Regular improvements added refreshed bumpers, fascias, lighting, wheels, color choices, interiors, electronics and the expected shuffling of engine offerings. By the end of the 1990s, the R129 was becoming the automotive analogy of a handsome, older gentleman – graying around the temples, yet still undeniably attractive – a car that still had  all the moves. The AMG-modified SL60 and SL73 offered performance-tuned V-8 and V-12 engines packing as much as a heady 518 horsepower.

By then, a fully retractable metal hardtop was becoming popular on several competing brands, rendering the need for a separate hardtop redundant. With the mid-90s launch of the smaller SLK, Mercedes had successfully engineered and produced a retractable hardtopped roadster on a slightly smaller scale and decided this would be an integral element of the R129’s replacement for model year 2003. A new retractable-roof SL, encompassing the previous 129’s pop-up rollover bar in a fresh and fabulous new style, surfaced for MY 2003 after its predecessor had sold an impressive 213,089 units during its production run.
 
And I always wanted one

I began my career as an automotive writer and road tester a few years before the R129’s introduction. When it first appeared, I was immediately taken with its fresh chiseled looks, impressive chassis and suspension specs, and a one-touch button that not only raised and lowered the top, but neatly covered it beneath an equally automated hard tonneau cover. I needed to travel to Central California to drive and photograph some classic cars – a 500-mile round trip from my Los Angeles area home – so I scheduled use of an SL500 from Mercedes-Benz’s Western Regional press fleet for the trip. Everything I’d read and envisioned about the car was true; it was super comfortable, on the sporty side of luxurious, rock solid and fast. And that top seemed a bit of magic.

Through the years, I continued to road test and write about the R129s, always anxious to test the newest version or powertrain. Somewhere along the way, I subconsciously decided that I’d own one someday.

My search

In mid-2014, that someday suddenly started to grow nearer. I’d just sold a lovely Maserati, had an empty bay beckoning in the garage, and a little  extra jingle in my jeans pocket. Hmm … which to buy? My first thought was to seriously pursue a 2001 or ’02 SL500 because these were the latest models among the R129s’ multiyear roster. The 302-horsepower SOHC V-8 had plenty of power and a reputation for reasonable fuel economy – teamed with the 5-speed automatic – plus an equal history of dogged reliability and minimal upkeep hassle. The updates that came along with the last-generation R129 appealed to me; the revised and more aggressive front and rear fascias and rocker panels on the 1999-2000 SL sport-package option were standard by 2001, as well as those equally handsome 18-inch AMG alloy wheels. I briefly toyed with the notion of an SL600, and while I loved the idea of the big V-12 engine – as close to a Ferrari as I’d ever get – I feared the big engine’s potentially thirstier fuel and care costs.

Another special edition SL that blipped my radar was the 2002 Silver Arrow. I remembered them from when they were new, but figured they were too rare on the ground or would be too expensive for my piggybank to handle. Not familiar?

The Silver Arrow Limited Edition SL500 and SL600 were specially trimmed R129s introduced as run-out 2002 models to cap the R129s’ career prior to the release of the new-for-2003 R230 SL500. The cars were so named to commemorate the historic Silver Arrow Mercedes-Benz racing cars of decades past.

The SL500 SA was powered by the standard 5.0-liter V-8 while the SL600 SA was equipped with a 6.0-liter V-12. Both were painted a special dusty metallic shade – “Silver Arrow” – with unique 6-spoke 18-inch modular alloy wheels. The SAs had several splashes of aluminum exterior trim, a brushed aluminum instrument cluster, and aluminum shift gate, pedals and front grille. Bi-Xenon headlights were standard, as was a polished stainless steel exhaust tip.

The interiors were modestly different: The SL500 SA had two-tone grey and black Nappa leather seats, door panels, steering wheel and shifter, with polished grey-smoke walnut trim; the V-12, an all black-leather interior with silver stitching. Naturally, there are a few discrete Silver Arrow badges sprinkled about, though nothing over the top. The Silver Arrow models are otherwise fully loaded. There are no other performance enhancements, per se, other than factory cross-drilled brake rotors – front and rear on both models – and the flip-up wind blocker wears some chrome trim not on the standard edition SL’s blocker. With just 1,400 SL500 SAs built worldwide and only 100 of the 12-cylinder SL600 SAs produced, this truly was a limited edition. They sold quickly – often for more than sticker price.

Tasty, but I doubted that I’d find a good low-mile example that I could afford. A friend of mine, Sanford, had a 1999 sport-package-equipped SL that he let me drive. The minute my wife and I buckled in, fired up and pulled away, I remembered all the engineering and design goodness this car embodies: I began trolling for 1999-2002 SL500s in good colors with low miles.

About that same time, my friend Sanford asked if I remembered Jiro, a fine gentleman I did indeed remember. Turns out Jiro owned a Silver Arrow that he wasn’t driving much since his retirement. Yes, he wanted to sell. Emails and phone calls followed a test drive; soon the Silver Arrow you see on these pages was at home in my garage.

Where to do the work?

With just 59,000 miles, it appeared to be as new and ran beautifully, but I assembled a list of service and maintenance items I wanted to address. My first and only stop would be the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California. Managers Michael Kunz and Jeff Cote had become friends through automotive and media circles; though the Classic Center normally doesn’t work on cars as new as this, they agreed to do it because they know and love this model. I asked them to service all fluids and standard service items – belts, hoses, brakes and the like – and a lubrication and adjustment for the folding-top mechanism, as well as installing new front shock absorbers. They also gave the engine a tune, balanced the four wheels, aligned the front end then sent me away.

My Arrow looks, runs and drives absolutely as new: The more time I play around with it, look at it and poke my nose into all the corners and fittings, the more I appreciate the way it was designed, engineered and constructed. The “built to a standard, not to a price” fit, finish and materials quality continues to inspire and reminds me why I fell so hard for the R129 – and why it so me satisfies today.

So is the R129 Silver Arrow destined to become a future collectable? Hard to say; I don’t have a crystal ball. But I can say that these cars are pleasing to own and drive everyday – or as a perfect weekender: A relaxed cruiser at any speed, smacking of quality at every turn, and serving up the joys of effortless top-down motoring at the touch of a button – with safety, style and complete comfort.
 
 


When time came to draw up the new R129 SL, design chief Bruno Sacco and his team worked to better integrate the new car’s bumpers and lighting compared with the outgoing R107 SL, smoothing off the flanks of the new car for a more chiseled look. Notice how neatly the wind blocker is integrated into the rollover bar, and the careful proportioning of lights, door handles and mirrors.
 


Silver Arrow inherited the revised lower front and rear fascias and rocker panels from the previous SL Sport Package.
Profile is muscularly square-shouldered, maintaining previous SL’s folding soft top, now fully automated. 
Modular 18-inch Silver Arrow wheels are handsome and unique to this limited edition model.
All Silver Arrows benefited from drilled brake rotors.
Side strakes, standard on all R129 SLs, look superb against “Silver Arrow” metallic.
 


Being a limited-edition model, the R129 SL Silver Arrow wears its share of unique identification badging, but has the high-quality content and carefully considered detailing to match.
Cabin is an elegant two-tone black and grey leather with grey smoked-walnut trim (instead of the standard model’s warm brown-stained wood).
Machine-turned metal surfaces on the shift gaiter and instrument panel harken back to the rich automotive detailing of the 1930s and evoke the original Silver Arrows.
The overall ambience leaves no doubt you are sitting in something special. The R129 SL600 Silver Arrow enjoyed all of the same upgrades, with the variation of an all-black cabin swathed in an even higher grade of leather hides; you won’t see many SL600s around, as just 100 were produced worldwide.



SL500 has a Mercedes-smooth, 302-horsepower M113 SOHC 3-valve V-8, while the hyper-rare SL600 Silver Arrow got the 6.0-liter V-12.

Specifications
2002 Mercedes-Benz R129 SL500
Limited-Edition Silver Arrow Roadster
TYPE: Two-door two-passenger convertible 
CHASSIS: Steel unibody
ENGINE: Aluminum  4,966cc inline SOHC 3 valves/cylinder V-8
TRANSMISSION: 5-speed electronically controlled torque converter automatic
HORSEPOWER: 302 @ 5,600 rpm  TORQUE: 339 lb-ft @ 2 ,700-4,250 rpm
PERFORMANCE 0-60: 6.1 sec  TOP SPEED: 155 mph 
FUEL EFFICIENCY: 16/23 mpg