The W116 is one of the lesser loved Mercedes-Benzes, not garnering the praise of the legendary W126 and falling into the trap of 1970s vehicles with bigger bumpers and emissions constraints that made them less attractive than their predecessors. Still, I must say that this particular W116 caught my eye, given its tasteful appearance and low mileage.
The seller states:
For sale by owner is this 1975 Mercedes Benz 450 SEL with 46,555 original miles. The car runs and drives beautifully with great V8 power and the 3 speed automatic transmission shifts smoothly. All of the vehicles ammenties function as they should and the AC blows cold and the heat blows hot through all the proper vents. The car is also equipped with an enourmous power moonroof (see photos) and all of the power windows operate perfectly, and even the original clock keeps accurate time. The original AM/FM Becker Stereo is present and works perfectly as does the power antenna. All of the original books and keys are present as well as the original spare tire which has never been down.
The car was very well maintained by both of its previous owners, and the car is exceptionally clean both inside and out. These W116 chassis cars were made to be driven and clean low mileage examples like this one are getting very hard to find.
The thing that is striking about this car for me is the color combination. While bright red may be a bit offensive to some, I think gray with red leather is one of the most classic color combinations and works well on older Benzes. I remember spotting a 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250S sedan at the Mercedes-Benz Club of America’s June Jamboree in Montvale, New Jersey in this exact same color combination, and I was smitten.
This car was obviously well cared for over the past 36 years and ranks right up there with some of the classic Mercedes-Benzes I’ve seen for sale at Mercedes’ own Classic Center in California. Clean, classic Benzes like this somehow speak to me and this S class very much deserves someone to act as a responsible custodian of it for at least the next decade or so.
-Paul
What has happened to links taking people to the original ad’s?
If you are running ad blocking software like, Adblock Plus (ABP), it will see the links to eBay as advertisements and make them disappear. White list the site and they will reappear.
Nice surprise to see this one end with bids up to $11,000 and reserve not met. Lesser examples of the 450SEL used to be seen on eBay for under $1000. Perhaps buyers are seeing that the 116 brought to the table. It was one of the last of the simpler in terms of gadgets, yet still special luxury cruisers.