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There were indications this SL wasn’t a run-of-the-mill example, but it took a trained eye to see them. Since the 280 SL’s 1968 debut, Mercedes-Benz employees had built each one of the firm’s touring sports cars with care. But the well-equipped car from the final year of production was something special, and its marque-expert caretaker would uncover its extraordinary past while ensuring its preservation into the future.

By 1971, the SL was established as a legendary model in a line of sporting postwar two-seaters. Having originated with the racing-derived, “Gullwing” door-equipped 1954 300 SL coupe and its image-conscious contemporary counterpart, the open-top four-cylinder 190 SL, that duo had evolved into the singular 230