1977 Mecerdes 450 SLC

This is a project car I've been working on, a rare 1997 Mecerdes 450 CLC. This is the stretched (+17 ") hard top coupe version of the popular 450 SC convertable. While the convertable (SL series for Sport Light) is the most produced Meceredes ever made (production in the hundreds of thousands), the 1977 SLC ( Sport Light Coupe) production was only 4500. This car is a "grey Market" car, imported into the US as a used car and therefore built to German specs, which inclued different headlights and bumpers and more importantly, mor horsepower 245 vs 185 in the US spec cars. This is more HP than a stock Corvette of the same era has, and in a lighter body. I never wanted a Mercedes before, but I saw this one for sale on the side of the road and it was love at first sight. The body and drive train were rough, the interior bad but the milage was low (56K) and the price low enough to make a restoration worh while. Here are some pictures from my continuing efforts. I plan on making the car a daily (sunny days) driver, not a trailered around show piece and to enjoy the fruits of my labors on some the twisty back roads around here. Mike

May 1999

The day I picked it up.

Off to the body shop

The car never looked worse, they found more damage than we figurged.

More naked car

Replacing the fenders, rear lower rear quarter, rocker panels and a we found a ton of bondo covering more rusted structal parts, which Exoticicars Inc. of Hopewell Jct. fabricated and replaced. The orginal estimate of 2 weeks for the job stretched into 3 months.

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