Here’s a super cool R129 Mercedes -Benz 300 SL, seen at a car market in the far north of the Chinese capital, Beijing. The speedy Benz looked fantastic, finished in Blue-Black Metallic (Blauschwarz), paired with light grey plastic “Sacco” panels. It also has the original 8-hole alloy wheels and very special black license plates. The R129 SL is a very rare car in China, so there’s a lot to tell. Let’s start with…
The black license plate
The Beijing government issued the famous black license plates to foreign-owned companies from the 1980s to the mid-2000s. These companies could either buy a car locally or import one, with no restrictions on quantity, price, or engine type. The Beijing black plates started with 京A, with ‘京’ short for 北京, Beijing. The numbering started at 京A·00001 and increased sequentially, meaning lower numbers indicate older vehicles. 京A·00666 is a highly desirable triple-6 number. Chinese culture considers 6 (六, liù) an auspicious number, associated with things going smoothly.
A number like 00666 would have been quite a status symbol, very appropriate for an imported Mercedes SL in the 1990s. Generally, the more identical digits, the more desirable the plate. Plates like 京A·66666 and 京A·88888 are at the absolute top of the desirability scale, but sadly, I have never seen either. Importing an exclusive car like the 300 SL was highly unusual; most black-plate cars were more business-like sedans and SUVs.
Other Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu, had similar black plate license plate programs.
The R129 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
Mercedes-Benz produced the R129 SL-series from 1988 to 2001. At the time, it was one of the most advanced sports cars ever built, combining new technology, powerful engines, and bulletproof build quality. The car in the photos is an early 1989–1993 example, fitted with the optional headlamp wash-wipe system. The R129s designed by the famous Bruno Sacco, who designed so many great Mercedes-Benz cars from that era.
The car looked okay for its age, but parking such an old vehicle out in the open is never a very good idea. The 300 SL is part of a large collection of rare imported cars from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Some are for sale, while others are not. The problem with these vintage vehicles is that it is often difficult to re-register them for road use after buying one second-hand. The Beijing municipal government is very strict about old cars in general, especially emissions regulations. Basically, anything over 20 years old is doomed.
The shop’s owner told me it was legal to drive this 300 SL outside the 5th Ring Road, which is basically the border between the city and the countryside. This is correct, and the same rule applies to most older cars, but also to many diesel-powered vehicles. So, while these older machines may have collector’s value, the strict regulations make them basically worthless, which is why so many end up in places like this.
Sticker time!
Back in the day, cars had loads of obligatory stickers on the windshield. The stickers with 2004 and 2010 are old Chinese vehicle inspection stickers, issued by the Ministry of Public Security. The punched/circled numbers around the edge indicate the validity month. The 2009 sticker is a traffic insurance sticker, showing that the car had the legally required insurance in 2009. The ZHB sticker in the middle is an old Beijing vehicle emissions inspection sticker, indicating this 300 SL did indeed pass inspection in that period. Drivers didn’t have to keep older stickers on the windshield, but many did anyway, so it wasn’t unusual to see cars with the entire left side of the windshield covered in stickers. Beijing eventually stopped issuing new stickers in 2017, and the whole system went digital.
This is a “Baby in Volkswagen” sticker — essentially Volkswagen’s own version of a “Baby on Board” sign, using a VW logo as the baby’s head. Volkswagen issued these stickers in the 1990s.
The interior
Time capsule! The cabin looked fantastic, with the original black leather, extensive “Zebrano” wood trim on the center console and doors, and the original-style large-diameter steering wheel. Even better, it has a super cool cassette holder in the center console, with slots for seven cassettes.
The tiny buttons activate the pop-up mechanism, making it easy to get a cassette. The button only works one way – you have to push the slot down manually.
The key is there! Ready to roll. It has an aftermarket Sony radio-cassette player from roughly the late 1980s/early 1990s, installed in the standard DIN slot. The numerous small preset buttons and cassette opening are typical of Sony units of that era. So the interesting thing is that it is at least a period-correct modification, even if it isn’t the factory Mercedes stereo. The early climate-control panel is great too, with oversized buttons.
Specifications of the R129 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The 1989–1993 300 SL used the 12V 3.0-liter M104 inline-six cylinder engine, with 188 hp and 260 Nm. Mercedes-Benz mated the engine to a 4-speed automatic, sending horsepower to the rear wheels. The company claimed a 222 km/h top speed, and 0-100 took 9.3 seconds. Fuel consumption was steep; 11.6 liters per 100 kilometers.
I asked the shop’s owner if it was for sale. First he said no. I pushed a little. He said I could have it for 150.000 yuan, or about 22.000 US dollars. Tempting! I was living outside the 5th at the time, so I could have registered it, and it would have been great to go around the mountains with this brilliant machine. But I didn’t buy it.
More Mercedes
There were about 30 vehicles there. I will write separate posts about the really cool ones. This is a 1991 W126 300 SE.
A W140 S320, US-import, with Shandong license plates.
A speedy W220 S600L with a “CL-Style” grille and AMG wheels.
More Mercedes in China soon!
