contractor basis before Daimler-Benz A.G. acquired a majority stake of UCDD in 1984). Only about 40 units per month were built. Technical data Europe North America Models timeline Motorsport 450 SLC 5.0 In 1978 the factory prepared two examples for the one-off Vuelta a la América del Sur, a month-long event of some 7,000 kilometres in length that took the competitors from Buenos Aires and back via Rio, Manaus, Caracas, Bogota, Lima, La Paz, Santiago and Ushuaia. The car driven by Andrew Cowan and Colin Malkin won by 20 minutes from team-mates Sobiesław Zasada and Andrzej Zembrzuski. In 1979 a 5.0-litre 450 SLC driven by Hannu Mikkola won the Bandama Rally in Côte d'Ivoire, with others finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th. That same year the factory had used the 450 SLC '5.0' to contest the Safari Rally, only narrowly missing out on victory because of suspension breakages. Nevertheless, the car driven by Hannu Mikkola finished 2nd. Results in 1980 were less good, and the factory team was disbanded at the season's end. An Albert Pfuhl proceeded to buy all six cars, equipment, and spare parts from the works team. Pfuhl and his team built a series of cars to compete in the 1984 Paris–Dakar Rally with a white and blue "BOSS" livery. The cars finished well down the order. Appearance in media The R107 was seen frequently on American television programs of the 1970s, like Dallas, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hart To Hart, Switch, The Rockford Files, and Wonder Woman. The R107 plays a key role in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (film) (1973), where Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) tries to contact the elusive Eileen (Nina van Pallandt) driving away in her open 450SL, but he is hit by another car. In the 1980 movie American Gigolo, Richard Gere drives a black 1980 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL (R107). In a later disconcerting scene, Gere's character Julian Kaye rips the car apart in his apartment garage looking for a stash of jewels he believes planted in the car to frame him for the Rheiman murder. A modified Mercedes R107 appeared in Season 1, Episode 9 (Berks to the Future) of the Amazon Prime Video original series The Grand Tour. It was used by Jeremy Clarkson, who was trying to create a new type of sports utility vehicle by combining the chassis and engine of a Land Rover Discovery with the bodies