The old-car world loves its homologation specials.
Always perceived as the fastest, rarest and sexiest of their particular breed, they were built in short runs as a way of satisfying FIA regulations in a manufacturer’s particular field of sporting endeavour.
If the rules say you have to build 500 or 1000 replicas for public sale, it tends to ensure the works cars don’t emerge as freakish contraptions that bear no resemblance to the ones you can buy in the showroom.
Known as the 500SLC for its final two seasons, this too was a lightweight version of a well-established two-door pillarless coupé, works SLCs were destined to become long-distance endurance rally competitors.
Heavy and luxurious, they were unlikely candidates. Yet, in the right events, these big V8 coupés proved spectacularly effective – at least for a while.
It could be argued the level of resources that Daimler-Benz AG aimed at the SLC project, both in terms of organisational muscle and even drivers’ fees, changed the face of rallying for ever.
The success of the 280E in the 1977 London-Sydney Marathon had given the firm a (cautious) taste for the positive publicity that could be generated.
But to keep winning against smaller, lighter Fiats and Fords with much better power-to-weight ratios, a more potent car than the W123 was required.
Enter the SLC, a 15½ft four-seater coupé that was not only more rigid than the SL it was partly based on, but also more stable thanks to its longer wheelbase.
To take out some weight – a claimed 125lb – all of the non-stressed opening panels would be in aluminium; later the two-seater SL got an alloy bonnet as part of a product-wide weight-loss programme.
Best of all, the SLC 5.0 was the first to get the new all-aluminium version of the M117 V8, opened out to 5025cc (4990cc for tax purposes) and 20bhp stronger (at 240bhp) and 88lb lighter than the iron-block 450.
This was seen as an ideal way of collecting data on the new engine technology, where the iron cylinder liners had been eliminated and the exhaust port area increased by 11% thanks to larger, sodium-filled valves.
With different internal architecture, this aluminium V8 would be the mainstay of the W126 S-Class saloons from ’79 onwards.
Running a 12.5% higher rear axle ratio, the 450SLC 5.0s as sold to the public – internally designated W1070.26 – were good for 140mph.
Fundamentally, the 14 cars used by Mercedes’ competition department for testing, training and events were surprisingly faithful to the showroom specification.
They recognised that the standard Type 722 three-speed automatic gearbox was the strongest option, and the works cars even kept the power-assisted steering.
The 450SLC 5.0 would go on to be the first V8-engined car (and the first automatic) to win a World Rally Championship event in a career that was short but impressive.
In tests of strength and endurance, driven by the likes of Andrew Cowan, Björn Waldegård and Hannu Mikkola, the SLCs put in some epic performances.
On the gruelling 39-day, 30,000km Vuelta a La América del Sud held in September 1978, SLCs – still standard 450s at that stage – took the top five places in their debut event.
The 5-litre SLCs totalled 2769 cars, split 1636/1133 between the 450SLC 5.0 and the post-1980 500SLC with its V8 reduced slightly to 4973cc (for Group 2 eligibility) and the later four-speed auto.
The 450SLC5.0 ran from September 1977 to March ’80; the 500 from there through to the end of production in ’81.
Both models came with discreet bib and boot spoilers (although customers could remove the rear lip if they didn’t mind losing the aluminium lid in the process), and the lower flanks below the rubbing strip painted in a contrasting grey.
The ‘Mexican hat’ alloys looked the same as the standard SL/SLC type, but had a ½in wider rim. Most cars were supplied without sunroofs, and even headrests, headlamp washers and central locking were officially extras.
Our example has resided in Zurich most of its with one family, before being purchased by its sole owner and avid car collector here in the U.K. Presented in magnificent condition with an amazing and full service history consisting of factory pack and both sets of keys.

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