1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC (C107) - Class-Winning Rally Car

The Stuttgart Collection is a carefully curated selection of cars that were once part of a larger, private, UK-based Mercedes-Benz museum. The cars presented to auction offer a unique opportunity to own arguably the best examples available in today’s market. From the fabulous 500SL delivered new to Sir Stirling Moss himself with a later Mercedes F1 starring role to the modest 230 E saloon at a tantalising No Reserve, each car is on the button with unrivalled history files that detail the diligent maintenance from new.

The Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC was the first V8-engined car and the first automatic to win a World Rally Championship event in a career that was short but impressive and the well publicised story behind this car is fascinating. But first, some history of the SL (R107) and SLC (C107) models, which came in a variety of nomenclatures indicating the displacement of the engines. When Mercedes-Benz returned to Works rallying in the 1970s, they needed to homologate the 450 SLC’s new 5-litre V8 rally car and thus the 450 SLC 5.0 was launched, with just 1,636 built between September 1977 and March 1980.

The story of this particular car started when it was supplied as a UK-press car in Icon Gold and registered as LLC 432P on 22nd August 1975, featuring on the front page of Motors magazine’s 1976 May edition alongside a Jaguar XJ-S in a head-to-head road test. A fascinating article in the April 2019 edition of Classic Cars Magazine recounts the story of a young graduate, Jonathan Ashman, working at the Brentford Mercedes-Benz dealership, who asked if he could have the SLC as a daily driver, with a view of entering the car into the 1976 Tour of Britain Rally. During an era when cars required far fewer modifications than today, just a sump guard, roll cage and some tweaks to the suspension and brakes were made at a friend’s workshop before testing at Silverstone.

As the car was still owned by Mercedes, the moment LLC 432P roared away from the start line, the young driver in his company car accidentally drew the company back into motorsport, in a semi-official way, for the first time since 1954. Jonathan’s success caught the attention of the factory, who started to draw up plans for the 5-litre rally version, leading to the later homologation cars. Worthy of a screenplay in and of itself, this former Icon Gold press car, first rallied by a cheeky young graduate, led to a new model and a short-lived but impressive rally career for the SLC. Starring in adverts and later campaigned as The Doggarts car in black, many period photographs of the car abound on the internet.

Joining the Collection in 2021, the car was later road-tested by motoring journalist Jonny Smith on his YouTube channel and is presented to auction in fabulous condition, in period livery as magazine-featured, with a detailed history file, and showing 63,116 miles on the odometer.