Tag: S class

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1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL

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Just when you thought you’ve seen it all. Well, this 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL has it all. This W126 had a life of excess and has all the paperwork to prove it. The story goes the car was ordered as a grey market import by a private owner in Chicago with a boat load of options then immediately shipped to AMG for more special touches. Those “special touches” you see above aren’t the work of a 17 year-old who bought this car from a Buy-Here, Pay-Here lot and a couple cans of spray paint. No, that is the work of AMG. I’m sure they were scratching their heads a little when this work order came in, but when someone offers up $20,000 (in 1982 money, mind you), you do what they say. An AMG body kit was added, all the chrome was painted black, the wheels were replaced with Rial alloys, the interior needed more leather, and the engine gained roughly 50 horsepower for the small price of $11,000. Total cost for this entire car, modifications and all? $62,656. For those keeping score at home, that is $164,234 today. I hope this owner loved this car.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL on eBay

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Feature Listing: 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE

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There is nearly always a “sweet spot” for everything. Not too little, but not too much. That perfect blend of everything. In the car world, having a sweet spot is something we’ve been chasing since Carl Benz back in ’86, 1886, made a little 3-wheel buggy that changed the world forever as we know it. From that point forward, it’s almost always been something that doesn’t make it perfect. It has to be reliable, safe, durable, make good power, look good, return good MPGs, be comfortable, and not cost a million bucks to fix. Well, good luck finding a car to do all that. Unless, of course…

The 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE. The last of the W126. For some, the pinnacle of all cars. Enough power to get out of its own way, won’t kill you in a crash, gets over 20 MPG with ease, and built to last literally a million miles. Nothing on this car will bankrupt you if something fails, none of the parts are too expensive, and basically anyone can work on this car if you are capable enough to actually work on cars. This example up for bid in Arizona is one of the better 300SEs I’ve seen come up for sale in a long time. It has just over 75,000 miles and is clean like you wouldn’t believe. I’m not just talking about the interior, either.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE on eBay

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1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD

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One of the more interesting facts about one of the cars I own, a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, is that they were only made for the United States and Canada. That means there are no “Euro-spec” W116 SDs running around Europe or parked in an alley somewhere in Albania. A cool little piece of car trivia, but that also means that all of the 300SDs produced were fitted with giant 5 mph bumpers and quad headlights instead of the sleek European bumpers and glass headlights. Of course that doesn’t mean people haven’t got creative. As you might have realized, this is exactly what is going on with today’s car, a 1980 300SD up for sale in Michigan. This OM617-powered tank has all the little goodies and it surely looks like whoever owned this car had quite an affinity for it.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD on eBay

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SEL

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I’m always curious to take a look at pre-merger Mercedes-Benz AMG cars when they come up for sale and today’s car, a 1993 600SEL, is one of those cars I don’t see all that often. Normally, when these V12 W140 cars made their way to AMG or another tuning house like Renntech or Brabus, the factory 6.0 liter would be converted to a 7.0, 7.2 or 7.3 liter. It only made sense, as the M120 is as a robust a V12 as they come, and the profit margins that were probably built into these conversions when these cars were still new made it all worth it. I’ve looked a S70 AMG before with a dubious past and like today’s car, it was actually built at AMG Japan. The thing is, this isn’t a S70; it is still just a 600SEL. So what is going on here?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SEL on Hemmings

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2010 Mercedes-Benz S550

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As fun and quirky as my two daily drivers, a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD and 1983 Mercedes-Benz 240D, are to have, they are borderline miserable to drive in the northeast during the winter months. Since I don’t own a four car garage, they sit in the driveway 99% of the time while my W210 E55 AMG sits under a cover in my garage with empty boxes piled on top of it. As a result, it is always a surprise to see if the locks or door handles are frozen when I walk outside in the morning. From there, the 240D is pretty good about starting in any temperature but the 300SD isn’t having it unless the coolant heater has been plugged in for a while despite me just replacing the glow plugs a few months ago. Once I do get one of them fired up, really hot heat is a pipe dream in the 240D while it’s a crap shoot in the W116 because of the god forsaken Chrysler servo system. Compare all this to a normal car that you simply press a button on a key fob, put it in gear and drive away in total comfort. This all has me dreaming about a more modern daily driver and when you comes to dreams, you know what they say, dream big.

This 2010 S550 4Matic up for sale in Brooklyn might be one of the nicest W221s outside of any S600 or AMG variety. Painted in Designo Magno Platinum Matte Finish on the outside, the inside is even better with Designo Sand Leather seats with Oak Grain Designo Natural Matte wood sprinkled about. Add in some other neat options like the rear seat entertainment package and you have a really loaded up S-Class. But even with the depreciation at around 25% of its original cost, is it worth it?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2010 Mercedes-Benz S550 on eBay

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1991 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL 6.0 AMG

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One of my new year’s resolutions on this site is to feature less run-of-the-mill common cars and more really special and rare cars. I’m off to a decent start with a 500SEC Koenig Specials Twin-Turbo and a 300SL Gullwing AMG from this past week. Today, I ran across another really cool car and has some awfully cool options. This is a 1991 560SEL 6.0 AMG up for sale in Japan. It looks like it was a normal 560SEL that was converted by AMG Japan into one of the most well-equipped W126s I’ve ever seen. What exactly is so special about it? Wait until you see the rear seats and under the hood.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL 6.0 AMG at Silver Star Japan

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Tuner Tuesday: 1986 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC Koenig Specials Twin Turbo

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Back when the metal was heavy and the hair was high, the cars of Willy König ruled the earth. Koenig Specials GmbH was a German tuning house that took already outrageous cars on their own from Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz and turned them up to 11. Unlike the majority of the tuning houses and coachbuilders from the same era, Koeing made cars that matched their bark with an even bigger bite. In addition to outlandish body work and 13 inch wide wheels, Koenig had a tradition of twin-turbocharging cars that made some of them capable of 200 mph and 0-60 runs under 4 seconds. One very special Ferrari Testarossa that was built by Koenig produced 1,000 hp and recorded a top speed of 229 mph. Today, these cars are still admired and now that everything from the 1980s is cool and very collectible. That is what we have with this car today.

This is a 1986 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC that received the full Koenig treatment including a twin-turbo kit on the M117 V8. It has a body kit that only the Batmoblie rivals and wheels deep enough to cook chicken soup in. Inside, Recaro C Classic seats only begin the wildness with a second gauge cluster added on the dash and enough wood for a dining room table. I rarely see these Koenig Specials come up for sale and this example in Canada is already pulling in big bids. How high will it go?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC Koenig Specials on eBay

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Feature Listing: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300SD

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Recently, I’ve been going on and on about how great a car the W116 Mercedes-Benz 300SD is. This came about from my look at the incredible 1980 with 8,200 miles on it for a not-so-inexpensive price of nearly $60,000. Granted, that is the most expensive W116 300SD in the world and it probably isn’t in line with what the car is really worth at all. Thankfully, there are some nice other examples out there – I’m not talking about Craigslist specials that look like they’ve been housing a family of possums for the past 11 years. One such W116 is this 1979 up for sale in Phoenix, Arizona. Painted in the rare Milan Brown, this 300SD has a cool background story of being in the same family since new, but most importantly, has been thoroughly loved throughout the years.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300SD at Treasured Transportation

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1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL Limousine

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Earlier this month, Carter looked at a 1979 BMW 733i Limousine that was an interesting car to say the least. Like he mentioned, it is really tough to top Mercedes-Benz when it comes to limousines, both aftermarket and factory. I personally think a factory Mercedes Pullman is without question the best limousine in the world, but some aftermarket companies have figured out how to make a nice product as well. Today’s car originally passed muster, but like all things, didn’t age all that well.

This 1987 560SEL up for sale in The Hamptons was converted to a limousine by Carat Duchatelet. Carat Duchatelet was a French company (now Belgian) that converted Mercedes S-Class into limos and other armored vehicles while adding their own special touches. This car was stretched to add a center divider as well as changed out the interior color to something a little more creamy. The entire car screams 1980s and I have come to find out that this car has an option I have never seen before on a Mercedes limousine: a calculator holder!

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL Limousine on eBay

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1983 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL

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When looking at last week’s 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, the claim of it being the best sedan in the world (at the time) came up. Those were someone else’s words, not mine, but I am certainly not going to argue against it because I actually own a 1980 300SD and it is one of my daily drivers. 1980 was also the last year of the W116 and the W126 was already on the roads late in that year in Europe with 1981 being the first model year for the new S-Class in North America. The W126 had to continue on the legacy of being the best luxury sedan in the world and again, at the time, it would tough to say it wasn’t. You could have the efficient OM617 diesel or two V8 options in the Gen 1 W126 with the 380SE/L or the 500SEL. Today’s car I wanted to check out is a 1983 500SEL but it isn’t the standard North American spec cars you are used to seeing. This W126 is a Euro-spec car with some neat options, both inside and out.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1983 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL on eBay

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