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In 1999, Mercedes-Benz gave us two amazing “Vision SLR” supercar concepts. One had a roof and the other was a convertible. The Vision SLR coupe eventually became the incredibly fast and stratospherically priced SLR McLaren coupe, which Mercedes-Benz builds with racing partner McLaren Cars. After four years Mercedes-Benz and McLaren are finally giving their SLR coupe a droptop playmate, to be called the SLR McLaren roadster.

Spied in the Canary Islands on a photo shoot, this prototype of the top-secret roadster will become one of only a handful of droptops ever to break the 200-mph barrier and perhaps the fastest open-topped automobile ever sold in this country by a major manufacturer when it appears on our shores next year as a 2009 model.

It is beleived that the SLR roadster will be almost identical to the current SLR McLaren coupe in terms of its long-nose proportions and front and rear styling. Also a given are a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis and carbon-fiber body panels, just like the hardtop. A fabric top, as opposed to a folding hardtop, will be fitted in the interest of cost saving.

Less clear, however, is whether the scissors-fly doors from the coupe will appear on the roadster. Certainly, conventional front-hinged doors would be somewhat of a disappointment after the cool butterfly doors on the coupe. Don’t get us wrong, however, they would hardly prompt any one of us to kick the SLR out of our garage. Expect little or no diminution of performance from the 617-hp, 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 with 575 pound-feet of torque that powers the SLR hardtop, which can accelerate to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds and touch a claimed 207 mph when given enough asphalt.

We would be surprised, however, if the roadster were offered in the intensified 641-hp “722” guise like the coupe. It would be fitting, however, considering that the original No. 722, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR racer that Stirling Moss drove to victory in the Mille Miglia three consecutive years, was actually a roadster. Pricing will likely be about 10 percent higher than the $455,750 of the SLR coupe, so don’t expect much change back from your half-mil bill.

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