1969 Mercedes Benz 280SL W113

This 280 was bought new and owned by the same family from 1969 to 1987. Originally purchased in the Salford area of Manchester, the car was cared for until ’73 by local firms Portman Garages and Cliff Holden. This SL saw its first round of restoration work in 1987, with invoices for new paint and chrome visible. A rifle through the rest of the history shows the aforementioned famous racing driver Jack Sears bought the car for £14, 400 from Stuart Graham–himself a TT winning motorcycle racer–in Norfolk in 1988. With the Sears family keeping hold of the keys until 2019, on-going care was split between Mercedes-Benz specialist Jim Russell in Downham Marketand local firm, Ashill Garage. It’s nice to see that Jack and family clearly kept up an interest in motorsport, as we found a Silverstone ’90 International Historic Festival parking pass in the file. An itemised set of bills for the latest aforementioned £100k restoration is neatly collected alongside a highlights sheet and USB stick showing images/ videos of work carried out. The final tick to the history wish list comes from some immaculate and original build sheets, plus all owner documentation booklets (in German)for the car. Oh, and there’s also MoT documentation tracing yearly use from 2006 back to 1988.