Mercedes Auction Results – Arizona 2018
We have compiled just about all the Mercedes auction results for all the Mercedes-Benz vehicles that were offered at the various auctions in and around Scottsdale, Arizona during January’s ‘Auction Week’ 2018. The only cars we left out were a couple of Sprinter conversion vans and a heavily modified G wagen that kind of made us gag while looking it over. The auction companies included here are Barrett-Jackson, Bonhams, Gooding and Co., RM Sotheby’s, Russo and Steele and World Wide (we did not tally results from Silver Auctions, although there must have been a couple of Mercedes there).
Cars are listed together by model or body style, then sorted by year. If the car sold the price will be listed. All prices INCLUDE buyer’s premium. If the car did not sell, the high bid will be listed in RED indicating a ‘no sale’ / ‘passed lot’. A couple of listings were ‘no sales’ on the block, but deals were put together later and the cars were sold, that is also noted where available. In the case of some of the more modern cars, we listed mileage next to the listing, to try to put the sale price into some kind of context. We have written detailed analysis of some of these cars as separate articles here at mercedes-market.com, you can click those links to visit those articles. We will update this page with more such links as we create more in depth analysis articles for the various cars in the coming weeks.
Auction company names are abbreviated in the result listings like this:
BJ = Barrett-Jackson
B = Bonhams
G = Gooding and Co.
RM = RM Sotheby’s
RS = Russo and Steele
WW = World Wide
(Click the auction company above to visit their 2018 Arizona auction results page on their websites.)
Mercedes Market Predictions
BEFORE the Arizona auctions this year, we decided to have some fun and go out on a limb, actually publishing our predictions for what various cars being offered would sell for on auction day. We did this for the Mercedes being offered at Bonham’s, Gooding and Co. and RM Sotheby’s. All predictions were made BEFORE even arriving in Arizona, just based on online auction catalog descriptions (not even the full, long descriptions, you find in the printed auction catalogs).
You can see our auction preview articles highlighting the Mercedes being offered at each auction house for Scottsdale 2018 in the ‘Auction Watch’ category of this website. All pre-sale predictions, with some analysis of each car, are published there. Our actual prediction figures are listed next to each car in the lists below along with the dollar difference between the actual sale and our prediction… showing a negative (-) number if we were below the actual sale number or a positive (+) number if we predicted a higher number than the sale result.
We surprised ourselves with some of the predictions, at how close some of them really were, especially for some of the cars at the Gooding and Co. sale, the Pagoda SLs in particular. Predicting the $285,000 high bid and ‘no sale’ of the white 280 SE 3.5 cabriolet at Bonhams was also a high point of our ‘crystal ball’ session. While we were close to some, we were tens of thousands away on others, almost $100k off of one of the 190 SLs. In the coming weeks we’ll try to analyze why we were close, or far away and post that analysis. This was all done in good fun, as it’s what we do while sitting in the auction rooms with friends and clients… then we rib each other when we’re way off, or go out of our way to tell the other guys how close we came with ‘that one’.
Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
This general overview will give you an idea of what various cars were selling for, but without knowing condition, history, etc. for each car you must take these numbers, and the differences between them, in context. Also too, we can draw conclusions about the market for each model just by looking over the various cars offered and the numbers of each model on offer… look how many modern, R230 SLs wre available this year vs. last!
In 2017 there were just three 300 SLs available during AZ auction week, this year, there were seven, a sign that the market has settled enough and sellers have accepted the ‘new normal’ in terms of prices and adjusted the sale price expectations accordingly, it’s not 2014 anymore. Gooding and Company offered 5 of the 7, we’ll dive into why that might be in a future article too.
In 2017 there were eleven 190 SLs available at these same auctions, this year, just seven, it is a tough 190SL market with many, many cars available, there are plenty of alternatives to auctions for these cars. As far as Pagoda SLs, there were nineteen available last year, all but one sold. This year, there were ten for sale in Scottsdale, again, all but one sold. R107 and R129 cars were plentiful, in about the same numbers we’ve seen in past years, they’re both staples at collector car auctions. The only R107 that stood out was a low mile 1988 model in Signal Red at Russo and Steele that brought over $50,000. We were surprised at the number of R230 SLs, these are the retractable hard top models produced between 2003 and 2012. There were nine of these ‘used cars’ offered last year, there were thirty this year! These should be considered used cars, nothing more, there are hundreds of them for sale at dealers across the country at any given moment. Almost all of them sold in Arizona were sold well above their regular market value, watch for an article about this phenomenon soon. There was a nice assortment of other Mercedes, coupes and convertibles from pre war cars at World Wide to ‘Young Classics’ at Barrett-Jackson. In the coming weeks we’ll put together features on many of these cars and discuss the prices realized. The list of cars is below >>>
300 SL Coupe and Roadster

This 1954 300 SL Gullwing ‘garage find’ at Gooding and Company was pretty rough. The pre-sale auction estimate was $1 Million – $1,300,000. We predicted a $1,150,000 sale. Final price on auction day was $1,155,000.
’54 Coupe – G – Lot 151 – $1,155,000 Prediction: $1,150,000 Diff: -$5,000 (interior pictured above)
’56 Coupe – G – Lot 016 – $1,320,000 Prediction: $1,200,000 Diff: -$120,000
’57 Rdster – B – Lot 30 – $1,512,500 (HIGHEST MB SALE of the week) Prediction: $1,250,000 Diff: -$262,500
’57 Rdster – G Lot 114 – $1,083,500 Prediction: $1,300,000 Diff: +$216,500
’57 Rdster – RM – Lot 158 – $1,083,500 Prediction: $1,000,000 Diff: -$83,500
’60 Rdster – G – Lot 022 – $1,100,000 Prediction: $$1,150,000 Diff: +$50,000
’63 Rdster – G – Lot 142 – $1,350,000 Prediction: $1,400,000 Diff: +$50,000
190 SL

This 1959 190 SL was lot #148 at Gooding and Company. Pre sale estimate was $100k – $120k. In our auction preview article we wrote “this one will struggle to bring $90,000.” Final sale price on auction day was $93,500 and auctioneer extraordinaire Charlie Ross worked hard to get it there!
’58 – RM – Lot 213 – $196,000 Prediction: $105,000 Diff: -$91,000
’59 – BJ – Lot 1068 – $132,000
’59 – G – Lot 148 – $93,500 Prediction: $90,000 Diff: -$3,500
’59 – BJ – Lot 1129 – $150,700
’62 – B – Lot 35 – $97,900 Prediction: $75,000 Diff: -$22,900
’62 – G – Lot 040 – $110,000 Prediction: $125,000 Diff: +$15,000
’63 – WW – Lot 78 – $90,200
W113 SL Series – 230 SL, 250 SL, 280 SL

Lot 177.1 at Barrett-Jackson was this Light Ivory 1966 230 SL that, based on its condition, sold for an inexplicable $59,400.
’66 230 – BJ – Lot 177.1 – $59,400
’67 250 – WW – Lot 66 – $59,400
’68 250 – G – Lot 031 – $71,500 Prediction: $70,000 Diff: -$1,500
’69 280 – G – Lot 054 – $88,000 Prediction: $85,000 Diff: -$3,000
’69 280 – G – Lot 109 – $74,250 Prediction: $80,000 Diff: +$5,750
’69 280 – BJ – Lot 1026.1 – $57,200
’70 280 – RS – Lot 754 – $85,800
’71 280 – RS – Lot 536 – $42,000
’71 280 – RS – Lot 695 – $69,300
’71 280 – WW – Lot 56 – $55,000
R107 SL Series (280 SL Euro, 450 SL, 380 SL, 560 SL)

This is a fairly typical R107 for Russo and Steele. A 1986 560 SL with just over 86,000 miles, smoke silver w/ brown leather, chrome wheels. Sold on Sunday as Lot 816 bringing $19,800.
’74 450 – RS – Lot 306 – $7,700
’74 450 – BJ – Lot 674 – $17,600
’76 280 – BJ – Lot 306 – $9,350
’77 450 – RS – Lot 224 – $5,500
’78 450 – RS – Lot 885 – $7,425
’80 450 – BJ – Lot 625 – $10,450
’83 380 – RS – Lot 240 – $18,700
’85 380 – BJ – Lot 26 – $11,000
’86 560 – RS – Lot 816 – $19,800
’87 560 – BJ – Lot 46.1 – $28,050
’88 560 – RS – Lot 345 – $53,900 (20,290 miles, 1 owner)
’89 560 – RS – Lot 288 – $19,800
R129 SL Series (300 SL, 500 SL, SL 500)

This 2000 SL500 at Russo and Steele was lot 852 and sold for $15,950. It had a two tone black and red designo interior that we’ve never seen in an R129 before.
’90 500 – BJ – Lot 80 – $9,350
’90 300 – RS – Lot 211 – $4,125
’91 500 – RS – Lot 808 – $5,500
’92 500 – RS – Lot 207 – $3,850
’97 500 – BJ – Lot 125.1 – $15,070
’99 500 – BJ – Lot 119 – $11,000
’00 500 – RS – Lot 852 – $15,950 (46k miles, designo interior)
’00 500 – BJ – Lot 581 – $20,900 (18k miles)
’00 500 – BJ – Lot 605 – $12,100
R230 SL Series (2003 – 2012 / V8, V12 and AMG models)

This 2003 SL 500 designo Launch Edition with just over 45,000 miles was lot 1654 at Barrett Jackson this year. Final price was $27,500.
’03 500 designo Launch – BJ – Lot 43 – $19,250
’03 500 – BJ – Lot 53 – $23,100
’03 500 – BJ – Lot 143 – $19,800
’03 500 – BJ – Lot 580 – $19,800
’03 500 – RS – Lot 418 – $10,450
’03 55 AMG – BJ – Lot 169.1 – $20,900
’03 500 – BJ – Lot 391 – $15,400
’03 500 – BJ – Lot 1517.1 – $16,500
’03 500 designo Launch – BJ – Lot 1654 – $27,500 (45k miles)
’03 500 – BJ – Lot 1700 – $34,100 (37k miles)
’04 55 AMG – RS – Lot 474 – $27,500
’04 500 – BJ – Lot 23 – $17,600
’04 500 – BJ – Lot 130 – $19,250
’04 600 – RS – Lot 623 – $23,650
’04 600 – BJ – Lot 276 – $25,300
’05 65 AMG – RS – Lot 405 – $23,000
’05 65 AMG Black (tribute) – RS – Lot 665 – $42,500
’05 65 AMG (tribute) – RS – Lot 899 – $75,000
’05 500 – BJ – Lot 355 – $27,500 (38k miles)
’05 500 – BJ – Lot 356.1 – $21,450
’05 500 – BJ – Lot 366 – $26,950 (41k miles)
’05 500 – BJ – Lot 631.1 – $34,100 (32k miles)
’05 65 AMG – BJ – Lot 745 – $51,700
’06 500 – BJ – Lot 134 – $24,200
’06 500 – BJ – Lot 577 – $28,600 (67k miles)
’06 500 – BJ – Lot 578 – $26,400 (61k miles)
’06 55 AMG – BJ – Lot 652 – $30,800
’07 550 – BJ – Lot 146 – $22,550
’09 550 – BJ – Lot 391.1 – $27,500 (61k miles)
’09 550 – BJ – Lot 659 – $30,800
Coupes and Convertibles (all years)

This 1970 280 SE 3.5 Convertible was lot 22 at Bonhams sale in Scottsdale. The pre-sale auction estiamte was $300k – $400k, we predicted a no sale with a high bid of $285,000. On auction day that was the high bid in the room. A post-block sale was made at $260,000 as reported on Bonhams’ website.
’53 220 Cab A – B – Lot 10 – $176,000 Prediction: $225,000 Diff: -$49,000
’63 220 SE Conv. – WW – Lot 46 – $75,000
’66 250 SE Conv. – RS – Lot 711 – $107,250
’69 280 SE Conv. – G – Lot 062 – $102,750 – Prediction: “It should surpass $100,000, but not by much.”
’70 280 SE 3.5 Conv. – B – Lot 22 – $285,000 – Prediction: $285,000 NS! *Post block sale at $260k
’70 280 SE Conv. – B – Lot 90 – $192,500 – Prediction: $115,000 Diff: -$77,500
’70 280 SE – WW – Lot 6 – $170,500
’71 280 SE Cpe. – RS – Lot 670 – $110,000
’71 280 SE 3.4 Cpe. – G – Lot 162 – $145,750 – Prediction: $145,000 Diff: -$750
’89 560 SEC – RS – Lot 673 – $15,400
’89 560 SEC – RS – Lot 908 – $17,600
’93 300CE Cab – BJ – Lot 141.1 – $15,400
’02 CL55 AMG – BJ – Lot 620 – $14,850
’04 CLK55 AMG Cab – BJ – Lot 112 – $20,900
’04 CL55 AMG – BJ – Lot 625.1 – $18,700
’04 C230 – RS – Lot 199 – $5,775
’05 CL500 – BJ – Lot 132 – $12,650
’07 CLK 550 Cab – BJ – Lot 108 – $15,070
’08 CLK63 Black – RS – Lot 674 – $59,000
’08 CL63 AMG – BJ – Lot 448 – $22,000
’08 CL63 AMG – BJ – Lot 454.1 – $29,150
’08 CLK 550 Cab – BJ – Lot 579 – $27,500 (66k miles)
Sedans (all years)

This 1993 500E was ot 509 at Russo and Steele. It had just under 20,000 original miles on its odometer and sold for a strong $72,600.
’70 300 SEL 6.3 – G – Lot 027 – $77,000 Prediction: $90,000 Diff: +$20,000
’72 250 – RS – Lot 833 – $7,700
’78 450 SEL – RS – Lot 232 – $4,400
’86 190E Evo II Tribute – RS – Lot 460 – $34,650
’93 500E – RS – Lot 509 – $72,600
’05 S430 – BJ – Lot 36.1 – $9,900
’08 S550 – BJ – Lot 1652 – $28,600 (78k miles, wrapped)
SLS (Coupes and Roadsters)
’12 Rdstr – RS – Lot 758 – $124,300
’12 Rdstr – RM – Lot 165 – $148,400 Prediction: $135,000 Diff: -$13,400
’14 Coupe (Black) – RM – Lot 232 – Withdrawn
’14 Coupe (Black) – WW – Lot 49 – $420,000
Other Mercedes (all years – Pre War, Buses, SUVs, SLK, SLR McLaren)

this 2006 Mercedes McLaren SLR Coupe, lot 1462 at Barrett-Jackson, sold for 236,500 with just over 14,000 miles on its odometer.
’38 320 Cab – Sindelfingen style – WW – Lot 13 – $420,000 (post block sale)
’39 770K Grosser – WW – Lot 62 – $7,000,000
’59 O319 – RM – Lot 220 – $164,400 Prediction: $100,000 Diff: -$62,400
’88 230 GE – BJ – Lot 746 – $55,000
’99 SLK230 – BJ – Lot 12.1 – $13,750
’05 SLK350 Launch Ed. – BJ – Lot 585 – $18,700
’06 SLR McLaren Coupe – BJ – Lot 1462 – $236,500
’08 SLR McLaren Rdstr (FAB Design) – BJ – Lot 1375 – $412,500
We try our best to list all the cars offered at all the auctions, it’s not easy, and, occasionally, we miss one or make at typo in the prices, stats. Please let us know if you know of a car we missed or if you see an error in our data above and we’ll correct it. What cars surprised you at the Arizona auctions? Is there one model that seems like an extremely good value to you in today’s market?
3 comments
Thank you for a Thorough and detailed list, fantastic article
I love the vulnerability to provide predictions – and then to show the results. Very nice coverage. This site is going to be a fun and useful venue for both MB and vintage guys like me. Thanks for bringing this to bright.
[…] about 20 R230 SLs available in Arizona this year, sounds like a lot, right? Looking back at our auction report from last year, there were 30+ available in 2018! The question of future collectibility come sup a lot when talking about this generation SL. I […]