A Hot Saloon From The Seventies

[reddiesel]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304968114989?hash=item4...


I have never seen one of these in the flesh but what a wonderful looking thing and with a great history too . Being a " Jaguar Man " I am making some obvious comparisons but Mercedes back then had a lovely feeling of solidity that you seldom experienced anywhere else . Built to a standard rather than a price , like Jaguar its sad to what they have now been reduced with numerous anonymous almost throwaway Models . Is this Car worth the price being asked ? I suppose it must be . I don't know the Production figures but its my guess there won't be many .

[biggbn]

One of my dream cars, a real skunk works special, created in secret behind the top brass backs by a chap called Waxenberger from memory. The first big bore merc sports saloon and forefather of the W116 6.9. From little acorns...

[aeropilot]

reddiesel said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304968114989?hash=item4...
I don't know the Production figures but its my guess there won't be many .

They made about 6500 of them, so not super rare, but only around 700 of them were RHD, so much rarer.

[reddiesel]

aeropilot said:

They made about 6500 of them, so not super rare, but only around 700 of them were RHD, so much rarer.

I am wondering if they were all LWB with the elongated rear doors ? I would say taking a guess probably so . Another thing is the Germans capacity for making proper " armchairs " back then . Sumptuous and Inviting like a good Tart .
Competitors back then ? Not that many and certainly not at this engine capacity .

[aeropilot]

reddiesel said:

Competitors back then ? Not that many and certainly not at this engine capacity .

Can't think of any competitors to it.
Merc stopped building it pretty much just as Jag started building the XJ12.

[TarquinMX5]

Yes, baby of Erich Waxenberger, head of the experimental dept.. One development car was built in Dec '67 and then production was signed off by Rudolph Uhlenhaut. 6,526 production total, few (don't have exact number) RHD.

Beardy fact: the 'L' in 300SEL, which was a long wheelbase SE, stood for Luftfederung (air suspension), not Long as most assumed, however, when the later 280SEL was introduced, without air suspension, MB said it did refer to long on the 280.

Lovely cars and, much as I like Jaguars and Daimlers, this era Mercedes S-classes were streets ahead of Jag on build quality and 'solidity' (if that's a word )

[miniman]

As glorious as that is, I think I’d have to spoil it by lowering it a little.

[restoman]

As wonderful as it is, if I were paying £95k for it, I would a) expect the front wing to be the same colour as the rest of the car and b) be wondering why it isn't.

[P5BNij]

As nice as that is, the same vendor has a RHD Maserati Indy which I'd rather go for.

[Mr Tidy]

I've always thought they were fantastic!

I'm pretty sure Jay Leno did a thread on his and he loved it.

But at that price I won't be getting one - unless I sell my house!

[ClaphamGT3]

restoman said:

As wonderful as it is, if I were paying £95k for it, I would a) expect the front wing to be the same colour as the rest of the car and b) be wondering why it isn't.

I'd also hold out for a UK spec car with faired headlights containing white indicator lenses

[aeropilot]

Mr Tidy said:

I've always thought they were fantastic!

I'm pretty sure Jay Leno did a thread on his and he loved it.

So did Ian Tyrrell on one of his video's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMxXmkpKWY4

[GTRene]

lovely 6.3L, I guess they weigh a little... German Tank :-)

those sort also came in 600 limo with 6.9 L but even more heavy I guess.

a bit more modern, those also came with a 6.9 L also from the 70-tish

Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 L 286ps a bit like the later BMW e36 M3 3.0

cheap example :
https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id...



or more modern 6.9 L from Brabus with 508ps but from early 90-tish

example:

https://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id...

[mac96]

restoman said:

As wonderful as it is, if I were paying £95k for it, I would a) expect the front wing to be the same colour as the rest of the car and b) be wondering why it isn't.

I'd also be asking when this restoration was done. Bit of a difference between say 1995 and 2020.
And does anyone care that Donovan owned it? Seller gives more advert space to that than anything else specific to this car.

[aeropilot]

mac96 said:

restoman said:

As wonderful as it is, if I were paying £95k for it, I would a) expect the front wing to be the same colour as the rest of the car and b) be wondering why it isn't.

I'd also be asking when this restoration was done. Bit of a difference between say 1995 and 2020.
And does anyone care that Donovan owned it? Seller gives more advert space to that than anything else specific to this car.

Because he's whacked up the price by 25 grand purely because of its vaguely well known previous owner, so needs to hype it up as much as possible

[SS427 Camaro]

aeropilot said:

Because he's whacked up the price by 25 grand purely because of its vaguely well known previous owner, so needs to hype it up as much as possible

Haha, Hype with a capital H !
And that Mercs o/s front wing must have been puffed in by someone high on drugs, the paint match is appalling.
Have you seen the rest of his prices ? £245 grand for a Royals 65 E Type FHC with a hideous colour re trim and vinle sun roof.

[Dapster]

ClaphamGT3 said:

I'd also hold out for a UK spec car with faired headlights containing white indicator lenses

I think it is a UK car with the correct lights. It was the earlier W111/2 that had the single lens headlights. The Euro spec W109 had the twin headlights, orange indicators and clear foglights. The indicators replaced the foglights in US spec cars which also had the side markers

W111/2



Euro Spec W109



US Spec W109

[reddiesel]

aeropilot said:

Because he's whacked up the price by 25 grand purely because of its vaguely well known previous owner, so needs to hype it up as much as possible

Given the value of the Companies stock I suspect they act as Agents for others as much as Vendors themselves . I say this as the Jaguar they were asking £45000 for is now awaiting sale at Kings Lynn Auctions with an almost halved valuation . The vendor I think has gotten tired of their inability to sell at crazy money and taken matters into their own hands .

Edited by reddiesel on Tuesday 23 January 10:23

[coppice]

Like other exotic cars of the era -Miura, Bora, Mangusta and Boxer - the Merc got plenty of press but was rarely , if ever, seen outside the pages of CAR .

[vixen1700]

Slightly more affordable in the States:

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1674967

Or maybe go for a 3.5. This sold at auction in 2020 for 18k.

https://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2020-1...

Must admit I've always liked these, they just ooze quality.