At the start of the 1990s, after the introduction of their two-seat grand-touring R129 SL, the launch of the Mazda MX-5 encouraged Mercedes-Benz to create a new compact roadster, slotted below the SL.

By late 1991, under Bruno Sacco, the first design sketches were drawn, with scale models being built in the first half of 1992.

Massively successful in its first year, worldwide sales hit 55,000, over double the entire nine-year production of SLs and between 1996 and 2004, over 311,000 SLKs were sold.

The roof design consisted of a folding steel hardtop with both halves linked by a mechanism which locked securely when the roof is closed.

At the touch of a button on the centre console, a hydraulic system controls the fully automatic folding process in which the boot lid is also integrated.

In current ownership since 2021, this manual transmission SLK has covered a warranted c.83,000 miles from new having been enjoyed by just four former keepers.

Offered at no reserve and benefiting f...