Supplied new to Austria and has been in the possession of the original owner for 42 years. The idea for the 190 SL was the brainchild of the Vienna-born and later, New York importer Max Hofmann, who urged the board in Stuttgart to finally – to put it mildly – revise the conservative model programme and give it a little more umph. In doing so, he was thinking in particular of a road version of the racy 300 SL as well as, by way of a compliment, a chic boulevard cabriolet featuring standard technology. And lo and behold, Mercedes subsequently unveiled two of such prototypes at the New York International Auto Show in 1954. It had only taken a few months to design and develop the 190 SLs, which were based on the solid Ponton technology. At the time, the SL's 105 bhp were more than enough to outrun the bulk of other motorists. Hofmann furthermore was proven right, as both SLs' became an incredible success! The present 190 SL was supplied new to a metal manufacturer in Graz in May 1960 and featured an elegant combination of a white-grey body, red leather interior, a black soft top and dark grey hard top. The vendor purchased the chic roadster 42 years ago when he was in his early 20s. The was lent the money for the car by his father, who was strictly against the extremely dangerous MGA, which was the car his son had taken a liking to. Hence the need for a proper car – that is, this 190 SL. The vendor and his SL had a fair few adventures together, involving both with female company and long trips. He and the SL even visited the GDR, where they had to submit to a thorough inspection by the East Berlin border police. As the years went by, the adventures became less and the roadster spent more and more time housed in an underground garage. In an effort to protect the SL, at some stage, a neighbouring garage owner covered it with foil, not aware that this wouldn't sit well at all with the car, actually made the paintwork blister and, by the time the damage was discovered, required the SL to be fully repainted. During the course of this work, the Mercedes was lovingly brought back to life and not just restored, but completely overhauled and conserved, as part of which only those of its components that were beyond repair were replaced. As a result, the car's entire interior is still fully original and it has lost virtually none of its charisma, but is probably one of the most authentic 190 SL's around today and has a history without equal.

VIN: 12192110017069 Mileage: 62.309 km Displacement: 1,897 ccm/R4 Gearbox: 4 gears Colour: White-grey/red (leather) Power: 105 bhp Papers: Austrian certificate of conformity