An all-new SL went into production in 1989, known internally as the R129. Offered in 300SL-24 and 500SL incarnations, the car proved an immediate hit. Mercedes felt no need to develop the car very quickly, but from 1992 there was a six-litre V12 option, then the next year the three-litre unit was swapped in favour of 2.8 and 3.2-litre straight-six options. This was also the year in which the SL designation switched from being a suffix to a prefix; the 500SL becoming an SL500.
It wasn’t until 1998 that Mercedes developed the SL further, with the arrival of a new V6 engines in place of the previous straight-six units. The displacements were still 2.8 and 3.2 litres, but there was stronger performance on offer than before, combined with better fuel economy. For those who wanted serious power though, it was in 1999 that the ultimate edition arrived; the SL55 AMG. This remained the most hard-core of the R129s until the next-generation SL arrived, in 2002.
