So Mercedes-Benz has teased us with today with a preview picture of the new 2017 SL-Class featuring a facelift that makes the car look almost identical to the AMG GT. That gave us an excuse to showcase this old Mercedes SL55 AMG to show you what a proper SL should look like.

Mercedes has been getting wrong the design of the SL-Class for the past two revisions they gave the car, turning the lovely thing you see here first into a chintzy looking barge that appealed most of all to rich fatties because they connected with it, because it looked like them. Then they came up with the R231 and we all know too well what sort of problems that one has. It genuinely looks like it has a disease that has made it eyes swell.

At any rate, for us the best modern SL is the Mercedes SL55 AMG R230. This thing was owned in its time by people who knew a thing or two about what makes a great car. Jeremy Clarkson used to have one of these. Granted, it looks a bit dated now, but it’s still cooler than a R231. It’s a classic design that will mature in a few years and become hugely desirable again. And that supercharged 5.5 liter V8 it is rocking, yes, it guzzles fuel like its diet coke, but the soundtrack alone is worth all the massive fuel bills you’ll be paying if you own a SL55!

Photos by OPspotters via Autogepot