At the junkyard, all is equal. Whether American, German, Japanese, Korean, or British, at the end of the day its value is measured per pound of steel, no more, no less. Even French stuff is treated the same. Oh, and Italian too, except perhaps there’s a little less of it at the weigh-in due to the trail of iron oxide flakes in its wake. No matter if a car was a loss leader at $5,795 Take It Home Today! and abused like a rented mule for two decades or cost $120,000 and with a seat buffed to a high shine before milady’s posterior sits down on it and never driven in the wet (because, of course, they knew what they had), it all ends up in the same place; sitting in the rain, mud, snow, heat, dust, dirt, and whatever other elements there may be. Poked, prodded, cut apart, disassembled skillfully or more often not so skillfully, occasionally photographed, sometimes wistfully examined, and occasionally even kicked or worse by someone with a reason known only to themselves and their therapist or parole officer, which may or may not be the same person depending on circumstance.
But there are joyous moments too.
When a long elusive part wriggles its way to the surface for someone who’s been scouring the plains, both earthen and digital, for eons without success, sometimes said part is hoisted high with pride and a big sweaty smile. At least as often or certainly even more so, an amateur weekend mechanic births an alternator or starter or some sort of widget out of the engine bay of a battered ’99 Impala in order to keep another battered ’99 or thereabouts Impala on the road for just one more season or a dozen, the money saved by doing so versus a new part perhaps going towards new or likely just as used shoe leather for a child. Those are joyous moments for many, even though under that joy much may be broken and often remains so.
Color though is the one item that can’t be broken at the junkyard. Such as the color of the featured Mercedes-Benz R107, otherwise known to non-anoraks as simply “the SL”. This generation of SL was sold for 18 years from 1971 to 1989, produced just less than a quarter million times over that span, two-thirds of them officially made their way across the pond to the USA (and some quantity more unofficially), but perhaps most remarkably it was available in a total of 97 different colors in that span of time. That’s every color in the rainbow plus another ninety! And this, this bedraggled mess of an R107 appears to me to be wearing Blue Green Metallic, or officially Color Code 877, offered between 1980 and 1989.
For sure this SL is broken, and broken is a simply insufficient word for it. This car was located in that nether region “beyond the fence”, a boundary to be trespassed only under pain of arrest or perhaps even lead. Hence photography is limited to any angle able to be achieved either over or through the links of chain. This car has not been in the general population yet, it may never be, and its curious placement neither amongst the gladiators awaiting their turn to be prepped on the left, here being ably held in check by an unlikely leader known as a Dodge Grand Caravan, nor the fighters staged to go in the ring and do battle to the delight of the populace, on the right, being perhaps led by a questionable duo consisting of a Scion xB and a Lincoln Town Car with a rug on top.
Separated that duo will be, not by color or by size, but in this yard by place of birth, or more precisely, by name. The Dodges and Chryslers and AMCs will hold court together, anything FoMoCo will be in its own section, and the General, well, the General will hold a prime spot near the front gate with all of Sloan’s minions, alive and dead. At the back of the lot as it has been for a long time are the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses, the Wretched Refuse; yes, the Ellis Island of the yard, the Import Section. All together as one mass, nose to tail just as they were on that perilous boat voyage, now perched atop welded steel wheel supports looking toward whatever weather or else approaches from the western front while remaining eerily silent and in a tense harmony while yet possessing numerous different tongues.
But color is joy, and amongst the Whites and Blacks and Grays and different yet so similar shades thereof are resplendent forms draped in character, with depth and gloss and sparkle as well, such as of course this Blue Green Metallic (No. 877). The colors aren’t limited to the imports though, oh no, color is homegrown as well and spread far and wide throughout the yard, and not always just as little bursts of pride kept in check amongst the uniformity of the grayscale. Because the yard has history, it isn’t just composed of the new and the now, in fact what was before will come again, as sure as the sun rises ahead of an Alfa in the Import Section and sets beyond the vast emptiness of a plumber’s former GMC Savana a daytime later.
And that color on the outside isn’t all that should be celebrated but also what’s inside; the character, the rich hues and fine craftsmanship laid bare here for all to see and imagine back when it was new once upon a time, the insides of this mechanical being bringing joy and wonder to whomever may have beheld it at that time while the structure even today still somehow holds true to its original ideals, not wilting, not folding, just peacefully waiting, albeit perhaps in silent agony. Or is the agony more that of the admirer?
This vehicle may one day soon go out into the ring for its final 6-8 weeks upon this patch of oil-soaked earth and when it does it’ll perhaps still be able to give more life to another of its ilk by giving yet more of itself, even after being so defiled and already apparently acting as a very deep well from which continued life could spring forth for others. But that day is not today. Today it just rests in that undefined area of the yard beyond the fence where mere mortal non-employees fear to tread.
But its color shall not be denied, it still shines like a beacon through the links, and serves as inspiration to look for the pretty amongst the not so much, even on the grayest of days, as that joy can and does appear in the most unexpected places. Number 877 Blue Green Metallic, I thank you and salute you, for I simply should not have found such inspiration from Anthracite Grey (Number 172, offered somewhere every year from 1971-1989).
Were it a Hemi ‘cuda someone would be restoring it or harvesting the VIN.
Perchance my eyes be playing deceitful tricks upon me, but our blue-green former chariot appears to possibly have her cause of expiration shown. Sad, truly. As this series Mercedes and its maturity was once described as being akin to the gentleman greying at the temples, this particular one seems to have been festooned with some aftermarket charring under the hood.
It is said from ashes we come to ashes we go. Not in this case.
Now a question…Jim, you describe the residents being segregated by origin. In this setting such segregation makes sense. However, how does one classify that International in the first two pictures? By its very name it is International, so perhaps it is adept at any placement?
The Internationals (along with the Studebakers and other random misfits) generally are sent to bolster the numbers of the Mopar boys in this yard. There are usually about two to three IHs in the rotation at any given time.
Just curious, what is that carton of eggs above the RF wheel?
That’s a vacuum accumulator. A bunch of small pods crushes under vacuum much less easily than a big round ball.
Ah, what a wistful masterpiece Jim, and blue green 877 is indeed a fine color (or colour, if you will)
I pictured you sitting on the hood of a forlorn 1970’s Rolls Royce writing this one 😅
That would make for a good author photo for the back cover of my book and I looked for one, alas I had to settle for the rear bumper of a faded yellow ’73 Super Beetle with a smashed rear window. The struggle is real, folks.
I would choose “Blue Green 877” all day long. That range of the color wheel is a favorite of mine.
I always get sad looking at the cars in the junkyard. I have always tended to see personalities in my cars, so I see something more than just metal, glass and plastic. This is indeed a case of a well-born and attractive person at the very end of hospice care.
This sad piece of twisted metal looks like it hails from the midpoint of R107 production (80-85), since it has the smaller W126-style head restraints and no airbag. I wonder if it’s possible to narrow it down further, given how little of it remains.
Jim – I enjoyed the “colours” chart from the SL Shop in England. My ’85 380SL is cabernet red (#587).
Still I prefer the early, non-metallic shades (with matching wheel covers). German cars from the ’70s had such a rich variety of colors; maybe Mercedes had the most.
I wonder kind of condition the dash is on that maroon ’82 240 next to the xB.
I do keep a watch out for those things, and CO is not that far…. 🙂
Enjoyable read, Jim. I always feel that the cars that have been chopped up like this Mercedes are the saddest junkyard cars of all.
97 different colors. I would not have guessed that on an automotive quiz show. Beep!
The ’70s were definitely the most colorful decade, especially in Germany and Europe. And then they kept the party going quite well for another decade.
Looks like it was donating vital body parts and organs before it arrived here. Not much left to scavenge.
For those looking on the chart, 877 is third row down, fourth from the left.
As befitting the proportion of imports in So Cal, our biggest lot actually is cleaved into two, one for the domestics and one for the imports (they can charge two entry fees, too). The imports are carefully divided into Hondas, Toyotas, Mercs, BMWs, and so on. The occasional Simca or Renault gets stuck here and there. Then there are the hybrids like the NUMMI Novas. They could end up in either lot.
The extended cab GMC pickup in the background looks complete, straight, and relatively tidy. Perhaps a transmission failure?
Interesting, in this yard (and most of the others here) the NUMMI Nova would be in the GM section but the same year Corolla in the imports. Same with the Corolla/Prizm etc. Ford Ranger in Ford, but Mazda B4000 in the imports, same with S10/Hombre etc. Nobody around here separates the import brands although in the Denver yards the Import section is now slightly larger than the domestic section (generally all joined together). They’ve now started putting all non-“cars” in their own section down there, so you’ll have Domestic car and minivan, Import car and minivan, and then All Truck/SUV/FullSize Van – that section is by far the busiest with the most activity, imports second and domestics a bit of ghost town, relatively speaking. Amusingly for a long time one of the bigger Denver chain yards with two locations was putting Jaguars in the domestics, not sure how that happened. They seem to have fixed that of late.
Here’s an example, it’s even tagged on the left rear quarterpanel as “DOM 11”, domestics row 11 with a Fusion next to it… https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/junkyard/curbside-recycling-1976-jaguar-xj12l-che-look-at-the-cat-someone-dragged-in/
Not sure on the GMC, but this generation is still a pretty common sight in the junkyard, it likely has 300k or more miles on it, this particular yard is a little more remote-ish in the countryside where people tend to drive a lot.
What amazes me is seeing a W-107 in a scrap yard, mostly stripped, yet still in possession of the complete convertible top mechanism and a windshield that appears undamaged. If that car was sitting in a similar place here in the mid-Atlantic area, it would have been stripped bare by now.
As for the reason it’s now serving as a donor car, Looking at the right rear lower corner of the car I see plenty of body damage, and I suspect the right rear frame section is visibly bent, thereby consigning it to the insurance lot.
Never seen one in this color! I actually like it, and I’ve never really liked this generation of SL. Looks similar to Honda’s Brittany Blue Metallic, first offered on the Accord SE-i coupe of 1989.
It looks sort of like ‘Petrol Blue’ to me, that’s prolly my ‘puter screens color .
These were fine cars indeed, I had a 1975 W107 350SLC, graymarket car with a stick shift, it was wonderful but not my cuppa tea so as soon as I had it sorted off it went .
Many of the R107 & W107’s had catastrophic K member failures, M-B would replace it for free for decades, if this hulk has an un cracked K member it’s worth saving .
-Nate
BTW Bill :
Most R107’s in California P-A-P’s have the entire folding top and in VGC no less .
I hate seeing then scrapped, most are just old beaters not crashed .
-Nate
These SLs have been appreciating in value lately, but their continued existence is still fragile. If it’s the typical, runner type car, a little bit worn around the edges but still looking presentable, it can have it’s life ended by a major mechanical or medium collision incident. The low value makes it a poor candidate for further investment by it’s DIY owner.
I saw a beautiful supercharged Jaguar XJR at the local pick it over yard. My guess is that the coolant hose that Jaguar wisely ran under the supercharger, burst and the engine immediately overheated and blew it’s head gaskets. A total loss, and the cost to replace the motor is well over the value of the car, only a dedicated DIY enthusiast could have saved that car. I used to think that I was one of those, but I reached my limits.
At least these cast off cars can contribute their parts to help keep other examples of the species on the road a bit longer.
These cars were immensely popular in their day, which made them loved and sought after by many, but hated by some. Or at the least the owners of the car were. It was a mixture of envy and social animosity. These cars were the ultimate manifestation of elite smugness. Who can forget Richard Gere as the American Gigolo?
I have always thought that these would be the new 55-57 Thunderbird, but Boomers haven’t shown that much interest.
In a way I kind of like it when I see something so stripped like this. Means its a doner, be it organ, skin or both, but donating so others can live. Other cars of course, but we are car people here and cars mean something to us. But for the most part, only people who DIY cars pull parts, and major sheet metal is even rarer. And those MB’s didn’t have DIY car owners. So even rarer.
Actually R107’s have a HUGE faithful and active DIY presence .