Mercedes had long been synonymous with beautiful two seater roadster, starting with the classic, 1950s, gullwingned SL 300. The company’s SL range developed over the years into one of the most desirable up market models produced. However, the SL’s high end engineering also meant high end prices. As part of Mercedes’ 1990 dash for diversification, the company cooked up plans for a more affordable roadster. The SLK (a German acronym for Sporting, light and small) was first seen as a concept in 1994. It was based on a shortened C Class saloon platform, which partly accounted for its slightly stumpy appearance, but it ensured that the car as rear wheel drive and based on proven components. The car’s engineering revolution actually lay in the folding hard top. Rather than use a conventional fabric roof, Mercedes engineers managed to design a steel roof which could automatically fold up and be stored under the boot lid. Although the concept has been seen on other vehicles in the past, Mercedes, genius was to get the roof to collapse into a very small space. The result was that the SLK could offer open air motoring in fine conditions, but in poor conditions, the SLK’s cabin would as wind and water light as conventional coupe.
Although the SLK in this first version was never viewed as a serious driving machine, the SLK sold exceptionally well to those who wanted roadster style with any compromises for inconvenience. The SLK’s folding roof was widely copied by mass manufactures to the point that 10 years after its introduction virtually all European car makers had a folding hard top in their rage.
