Any of you European kids got any opinion of the six-cylinder 107-chassis Mercedes SL's? I'm looking at a grey-market 1984 SL with an inline six and (gasp) 5-speed manual gearbox. It's got the old overhead cam inline six, which I've read has decent top-end response and revability — quite why it's lodged in a car that might as well be hewn from solid limestone is beyond me, but the driving experience would certainly be unique in the States.

The car's got a '500 SL' badge pinned to the bootlid, strangely enough, so I haven't been able to tell the displacement. I know they put to engines in the cars producing roughly similar power though, so as far as I can tell, it really shouldn't matter.

I've already got a a 1981 380 SL, but I'm sure we all know how it is... in for a pinch, in for a pound...

So, what do you think of a mere 6-banger in one of these luxury micro-barges? Is it worth a go? Is the Mercedes gearchange really as awful as its reputation?
?