When I brought home a nautical blue W126 last month, I was pretty chuffed to find a car in such an attractive and unusual color. But ever since then, I’ve been seeing nautical blue Benzes pop up left, right and center. I hadn’t really noticed them before, but it turns out that color code 929 isn’t as rare as I first thought. Still, it is gorgeous, and looks just as nice on the C126 coupe as it does on my W126 sedan. This particular car was spotted by fellow contributor Andrew H. It’s a Euro-spec 500SEC, powered by a version of the 5.0 liter M117 motor unsaddled by US emissions restrictions. That means it should be good for about 250 hp, give or take. Performance won’t be blistering – the SEC is more of a grand tourer than a sports car – but that motor is definitely more potent than the one offered in the US-spec 500 from the same period.
Tag: 500SEC
I probably don’t feature as many vehicles from the other side of the pond as I should, but today’s car is a great starting point.…
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Last week I wondered what kind of W126 S-class you could buy if you had an unlimited budget and wanted one in practically brand new condition. That search yielded a gorgeous, pearl black on black, ultra-low mileage ’89 560SEL, which ultimately sold for a very respectable $21k. I thought I’d play the same game this week, only this time I went on the hunt for a coupe. The SEC (or “C126”), designed by legendary Bruno Sacco, was based on a slightly shortened version of the sedan chassis. While the car retains many of the same graceful and elegant lines of its four door sibling, the coupe sports a sexy, pillarless profile that changes the character of the car. If the 80s stock broker was chauffeured to Wall Street in the SEL during the week, he drove the SEC to wild parties in the Hamptons on the weekends.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC on eBay
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Yesterday I pulled up behind a lightly modded 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC in my Audi Coupe. It was interesting, having them parked together and considering that they were produced only 1 year apart, yet the target audience for each was so vastly different. The Audi, steeped in modernity and full of angles, appeared short and lithe next to the Leviathan Mercedes. It was the last of the 1970s dinosaurs that somehow was still roaming the earth in the early 1990s, shouting and stomping around the land that time forgot. Yet there’s an inherent appeal in these cars too; beyond build quality and luxury, even beyond the fluid design of the pillarless coupe. There’s just something that is right about the C126, and pop some period AMG bits on and roll it in the period drug of choice, all that is missing is the Miami Vice soundtrack and some rolled up white sport coat sleeves:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC AMG on eBay
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We get a lot of submissions from readers – something we greatly appreciate! But the reality is that we don’t get the chance to write up all of these cars, and some deserving examples slip through the cracks. For some time I’ve wanted to do a roundup of all the examples we missed out on, so today I’m doing just that. Here’s a group of neat cars that we didn’t get a chance to look at in more depth. Thanks again to all of our devoted readers who have sent in some of these suggestions – we really do love getting your suggestions, so keep sending them and tell us if this “Honorable Mention Roundup is a good idea!