The stillborn 1981 500SL will make a rare appearance during the August 3-5 Schloss Dyck Classic Days. Frankly, we never knew this car existed.
1981 500SL Rally Car
320hp SL was to replace SLCs
Mercedes never ceases to surprise us. A few months ago the media center casually released images and comments relating to the long rumored 6.3 liter V8 Pagoda that was briefly evaluated in 1968 before being crushed. And now we have received information on what is perhaps the only 107 series SL ever seriously prepared by the factory for racing.
The success of the 5 liter SLC rally program is well known: The factory team of lightweight SLCs finished a credible 4th in the 1980 World Rally Championship. With its rather long wheelbase, the SLC was an unlikely candidate for rallying where the ability to quickly rotate the car during during tighter stages was essential. The SLCs high ‘polar moment’ was not lost on the engineering team headed by Erich Waxenberger and plans were initiated to replace the SLCs with the far shorter and more agile SLs in 1981.
Mercedes-Benz' prolific engineer, Erich Waxenberger, poses recently with the 500SL he created for the 1981 World Championship Rally season. We see the '80s era BBS wheels, standard bumpers perhaps in aluminum and massive lamps for high speed night stages. Rocker and side moldings have been removed as has the production car's shallow front chin spoiler.
Four rally SLs constructed
After 1980′s fourth place finish in the World Rally Championship, Mercedes prepared four 500SLs for the 1981 season for a driver lineup headed by then top international rally star, Walter Rohrl. The SLs were prepared in a similar fashion to the earlier SLCs receiving the 320hp M117 engine, a very short final drive ratio fitted to a limited slip differential and the other modifications essential to rally success.
Removing any unnecessary items from the standard SL resulted in a vehicle weight of just under 3,000 lbs despite the addition of an alloy roll cage and massive night driving lamps. Rohrl carried out extensive testing with the new rally contender from Stuttgart. However, marketing priorities changed in the boardroom and all rally plans for 1981 were terminated.
The rally 500SL’s interior is generally all business although we can see some of the original street 500SL’s burlwood below the center dash vents. The shroud above the temp controls seems to be a light to illuminate the switchgear. Door panels are fitted with extra pockets to store route maps, and checkpoint paperwork. Extra deep seats were required to keep driver and navigator securely planted in the car while navigating chaotic and rough rally terrain. Ken Block fans will recognize the massive black emergency brake lever right of the transmission tunnel used to instantly pivot the car when necessary. Corded aluminum cylinder on the console is either a flash light or microphone.
107s in competition
Aside from the 1979-1980 SLC rally program and the stillborn 500SL project of 1981, factory racing projects focusing on the 107 cars were virtually non existent. However, dedicated privateers pressed on with some interesting 107 projects both in period and currently.
The links below cover some of the more interesting 107 competition projects. The factory 500SL project will undoubtedly serve as inspiration for future hot rod 107s.
The Fearsome AMG Mampe SLC.
Monster SL from down under.
New SLC Rally Cars.
Unfulfilled promise: Who knows how the factory 500SL would have fared in 1981 against Ari Vatanen's agile 270hp Ford Escort RS1800. We'll never know.
Roy Spencer, editor MercedesHeritage.com
Photography from Daimler Media
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6 Responses to “Unfulfilled promise: Factory Rally 500SL”
Great article!!! I was wondering what modifications were made to the hard top to make it more solid for racing. They lock up very tight and solid but I’m curious. What transmission it used?
Wow – looks like an auto-box – can’t imagine that would have been competitive at all ?
Thank you Roy great article,it brought back memorys when i lived in Nelson
New Zealand those years and the factory Rally team came there,and the SLs
were all Black. I remember the Mercedes were fantastic ,because of the sound of
those fabulous V8,charging through the NZ forests and river streams at high speed.Thank you.—–Wayne Robson.
I have a 1979 450 SLC 5.0 Serial #: 1477.
I love the fact that the Mercedes Factory built these cars as “Homologation Specials” so that the privateers could enter them as “Production Cars”.
I wonder if Ford actually built and sold the aforementioned 270 HP Escort in the showroom??
I bet not!!
Bottom Line, these were cars that you could buy in Germany at the Dealership, and they had full interiors and a warranty.
Mine was imported to the U.S.A. in 1980, and now is being restored in the Atlanta, Ga area.
Paul Reason
Heck I get goosebumps looking at this thing of beauty. Although I much rather prefer the SLC rally car that did good in the late 70′s the soundtrack of this thing alone would would have scared a lot of lesser marques off the dirt on which I am sure it would have done just great. Tnx Roy stunning pics and write-up
I have a 1980 450sl, Euro-market, that I am building into a rally car, would like to “clone” this car to the extent feasible. Does anyone have additional pictures of the factory rally car above, especially the interior?
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