Mercedes-Benz 300 SE Cabriolet

This W112 300 SE Cabriolet is a rare right-hand-drive example. The page says only 92 RHD cars were built, out of 708 cabriolets in total, and that this one was fitted with factory air conditioning. The system has since been removed and put into storage. It is described as numbers matching, with the 3.0-litre single-overhead-cam six producing 195 bhp and air suspension that is self-levelling.

It was finished in November 1965 in red and first sold to a serviceman based in Germany. It returned to the UK in 1967 and passed to a Hampshire owner in 1969, who repainted it blue and kept it for about 40 years. It was garaged and unused from 1988 to 2009, and then sat unused again under the next owner. A later owner used it for long-distance tours in the Americas and East Asia.

A 2.5-year body-off restoration began in 2014. It covered shot-blasting and repair of the shell, an engine and drivetrain overhaul, re-trimming in leather and a mohair hood, re-chroming and re-polished woodwork. Upgrades include a stainless exhaust, twin extra cooling fans and electric front windows. In 2017 a UK specialist fitted a modernised four-speed automatic gearbox. The 88,628 miles shown are combined from before and after the restoration.