Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Another week usually means another S-Class from me. Today is no different with a 2006Â S … 350? Wait, they made a S350? For the United States? Yes, they did and that’s what we have here today for sale in Florida. So this is just a regular S-Class with a V6, right? Not quite. So lets take a look at what makes this W220 so different.
The Mercedes-Benz 560SEL was the definitive über sedan for more than a decade beginning in the early 1980s. They weren’t particularly eye-catching or glitzy but had a refined, tasteful appearance in a way only a classic Mercedes-Benz could pull off. With a rear seat that was almost five feet wide, passengers were treated to the utmost comfort and the driver had adequate power at his disposal with the M117 V8 under the hood. Want to look like a diplomat for a day? This 1987 560SEL in Desert Taupe for sale in Illinois is a good way to do just that. For those thinking a classic S-class in good condition with low miles is out of reach, read on.
Many have tried, but few manufacturers have succeeded in surpassing the Mercedes-Benz S-class as the bar by which all large luxury sedans are set. This isn’t anything new, as Mercedes has had a long, storied history of luxury sedans dating back to the early reaches of the 20th century. The S-class came into its own in the 1950s and 1960s, when the W111 appeared, which would be sold in coupe and cabriolet form alongside the W108 and W109 sedans. These S-classes would carry on into the early 1970s and would feature a variety of engine and body options, from short to long wheelbase with everything from a 2.5 liter inline-6 under the hood to the 6.3 liter V8 from the 600 Grösser. This 250SE for sale in The Netherlands has the fuel-injected 2.5 liter inline-6 under the hood mated to a four-speed manual gearbox.
Believe it or not, at the beginning of W126 Mercedes-Benz S-class production, you could still spec one of these luxury sedans with a carbureted engine. Built from the beginning of production up to the 1985 facelift, a little over 42,000 280S models with the M110 inline-6 were manufactured, none of which were sold new in the US market. This 280S for sale in Aachen, Germany has yet to break the 30,000 mile mark and comes equipped with features not commonly seen in US spec W126s, such as cloth interior, rear crank windows and a 4-speed manual gearbox. With prices trending upward on all W126 variants, an extremely well-preserved example is a tempting proposition, no matter how base level the spec might be.
In the last few years, the Mercedes-Benz lineup has grown substantially. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any bigger, along comes the S-class Cabriolet. While the myriad of SUVs that Mercedes sells are responses to growing trends in the marketplace, the S-class Cabriolet is a revival of an old theme, the car you see here: the 280SE Cabriolet. The 280SE Coupe and Cabriolet were the swan song of the W111 chassis, with production of the 3.5 V8 variant lasting through the summer of 1971. This restored 1970 280SE Cabriolet for sale in Chicago is fitted with a 4-speed manual gearbox, an option not often seen on these grand tourers.
