Mercedes-Benz introduced a light an unusual roadster in 1996, which it named SLK, and the three letters stood for Sport Leicht Kurz (Sport, light, and short).
Its main rival, BMW, already had a sporty roadster on the market since 1995, and its sales were good. Mercedes-Benz waited a little bit more to uncover the SLK due to technical challenges such as the so-called Vario-Roof. But the wait totally worth it. The SLK used most of its underpinnings from the first-generation C-Class (W202), which was already proven and reliable.

It was a surprising car coming from Mercedes-Benz. It showed a long hood, which was about a third of the car’s length, racked and thick A-pillars, and a coupe shape when the car was closed. It resembled the former Pagoda models. At the back, the carmaker installed a trunk system that helped the retractable hard-top completely disappear behind the cabin in 25 seconds.

Inside, Mercedes installed two seats only, separated by a center console with a small armrest. Behind the sport bucket seats, the carmaker installed a pair of roll-over protective bars covered in leather. The instrument cluster sported three dials where the speedometer took the center stage flanked by a tachometer on the right and the fuel and coolant temperature gauges on the left.

Under the hood, Mercedes installed a range of three inline-four, naturally aspirated or supercharged engines producing between 136 hp and 190 hp. The base engine was paired with a five-speed manual, while the latter two were available with either a six-speed manual or a five-speed automatic.