Friday 18th December 2009

Jay Leno Plans SLS-Powered 1969 300 SEL

Custom classic Merc saloon to get 563bhp V8

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Take the engine from one of these...

Chat show host and certified car nut Jay Leno is in the midst of transplanting the heart of the new Mercedes SLS AMG into a 1969 300 SEL 6.3 saloon.

The original 1968-1972 SEL 6.3 was no slouch - the big V8 from the Type 600 limousine brought 250bhp to the party.

That was enough to propel the big Merc to 60mph in 7.4secs on the way to a 136mph top speed.

Leno's version is likely to be a tad faster than that, however. As Chris-R found out when he drove the SLS AMG at Laguna Seca, with 563bhp and 641lb ft the 6208cc motor can whisk Merc's latest supercar to 62mph in 3.8secs.

...and put it into this to make a very fast car

And that's in a modern, safety-heavy 1620kg car. The SEL 300 should be a fair bit lighter. Presumably Leno will have the underpinnings fiddled with to cope with the extra poke, although the original car, with disc brakes and pneumatic suspension, was already quite a sophisticated beast.

Mercedes engineers are even reportedly helping Leno out with the intensive surgery. Oh, to be a super-wealthy world-famous car enthusiast...

Nice horse

Subtle badging on the 60s original

[tombstone]

Jay....PLEASE PLEASE let me come and work for you!!!

Oh to have the money!!!

[Walton]

.....why?

[Great Pretender]

Walton said:

.....why?

Why are you on PH?

[Truckosaurus]

Walton said:

.....why?

Why not?

I like The Leno, he seems to pick intelligent and left-of-centre projects rather than just tarting up the latest supercar or whatever.

[fastgerman]

Walton said:

.....why?

Not?

[Pothole]

needs to look like this:

[Puk]

this is brilliant !

[gumsie]

With the running gear mods that thing's going to need to handle 5-600 horsepower, he'd do just as well to cut the body off with an oxy torch and just weld it to the SLSs chassis.

[LukeBird]

Awesome!

[g3org3y]

Truckosaurus said:

Walton said:

.....why?

Why not?

I like The Leno, he seems to pick intelligent and left-of-centre projects rather than just tarting up the latest supercar or whatever.

+1 Proper enthusiast. Muchos respect.

[Walton]

Great Pretender said:

Walton said:

.....why?

Why are you on PH?

Because I like cars. And because I like cars I can't see the point in tearing the soul out of a classic car (you'd obviously need new brakes, gearbox, suspension etc etc). You'd still be left with a less than ideal chassis.

Jay Leno can afford both cars, so I can't see why he'd want to butcher them both to end up with a compromised car.

Just can't see what he's trying to achieve.

Edited by Walton on Friday 18th December 13:24

[bazking69]

I eagerly await the finished article.

[Mclovin]

i wish i was him...

[Streetrod]

Leno is a hero, but he should go the whole hog and drop in a Zonda R spec AMG V12, now that very cool

[Oddball RS]

Slow news day - up next - man changes own spark plugs

[LHD]

The man deserves a medal.

Living the dream doesn't even cover it.

[Caractacus]

Walton said:

Just can't see what he's trying to achieve.

A damn fine Merc sleeper, that's what.

[Art_Vandelay]

LHD said:

The man deserves a medal.

Living the dream doesn't even cover it.

+1, have you seen his jet-bike? Crazy man, wish I had his garage.

[proscriptus]

I generally really enjoy Leno's projects, but I've driven the 300 SE L 6.3 and it's one of the all-time great cars. The 6.3 is sublime, the car is amazing, and they're rare enough as it is. Mercedes put that body on plenty of non-6.3s; why not cut up one of those?

[topless_mx5]

I think Leno should take some driving lessons first. I seem to remember him being fairly average for a man with such amazing cars when he appeared on TG.

Have to admire his petrolhead-ness though...