Sold! The best used Mercedes you missed out on

Five very different Mercedes, five familiar examples of AMG excess

Mercedes E 63 S AMG Estate (S212), 2015, 69.1k miles - sold for £27,604*

AMG has been wielding the downsizing axe across most of its range over the last few years, but the E 63 has managed to dodge swings for some time now. If the rumours are to be believed, it’ll still be powered by a big V8 on the model’s anticipated return in the next couple of years. As wonderful as that would be, the new generation of ultra-efficient and heavily-silenced engines are no match in character for the older, noisier V8s that powered yesteryear’s AMG like this E 63 S Estate. True, this one has a pair of turbos strapped to its 5.5-litre block, but the absence of particulate filters and aggressive silencers means it’ll still put on one heck show on a cold start. It’s been used as intended over the last decade, with more than 69,000 miles covered across two previous owners, but a full service history and great spec helped it fetch £27,604 including the buyer’s fee when it went under the hammer. Not bad for a big old E-Class wagon, one we’ll probably never see the likes of again.

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Mercedes C 63 AMG Black Series (W204), 2012, 47.2k miles - listed at £134,950

Formula 1 safety cars never used to be cool. Back in the early '90s, the FIA would seemingly pick something at random from the paddock car park, whack a set of flashing lights on the roof before sending it out to lead the fastest racing machines in the world. When Mercedes came along as the official safety car supplier in 1996, it brought professional drivers cars that had been specially adapted for the task without falling to bits. Its safety cars were so trick they’d eventually spawn their own road cars, which is how the SLK and CLK Black Series cars were born. While this W204 C 63 Black Series would never spearhead the front of an F1 pack, it follows the formula of those that did to a tee. A wider track, coilovers, beefier brakes and a 517hp naturally aspirated V8 with bits from the SLS. So it’s a proper nutcase, though dropping somewhere in the region of £134,950 to get your hands on one sounds, ironically, like a surprisingly sensible thing to do.

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Brabus Mercedes SL (R230), 2002, 14.6k miles - sold for £45,024*

If you’d been keeping half an eye on Monterey Car Week, you’ll have no doubt seen the Brabus Bodo Roadster, a drop-top version of the firm’s Aston Martin Vanquish-based super GT. It’s a striking reminder of just how far Brabus has come in recent years, the result of decades spent tuning Mercs to ridiculous effect. That includes this R230 SL, a car built in such low numbers that Brabus didn’t even bother giving it a name. Believed to be just one of two, it’s been fitted with the same 5.4-litre naturally-aspirated V8 as the hyper-rare SLK Black Series, which is good for 416hp, and features a host of visual tweaks and lots of carbon trim. The hammer price of £45,024 including the buyer’s fee is a good chunk more than what you’d spend on the equivalent SL 55 AMG, and rightly so, while the new owner can rest assured they’ve got one of the rarest pieces of Brabus history tucked away in their garage.

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Mercedes-AMG G 63 4x4 Squared, 2023, 2k miles - listed at £599,989

As much as we love a big V8 in an off-roader, it’s hard not to find the G 63 a little… gauche. That’s partly down to the way many of them are specced (i.e. matte black with black wheels and heavily tinted windows) and how they’re often ‘upgraded’ with the loudest, most flatulent exhaust on the market. But this, the 4x4 Squared, is so beyond ridiculous that you can’t help but love it. And it’s jacked-up, wide-arched stance isn’t just for show, either. It has proper port axles with two sets of dampers on each arm, a wider track and tougher underpinnings to cope with the extremities of exploring the great outdoors. Not that many 4x4 Squareds have gone anywhere near a dirt track, because there were mass recalls shortly after its release for issues relating to the rear axle diff, and it’s said the vast majority were brought back by Mercedes and never returned to the road. This one slipped through the net, and has had its rear diff fixed under the recall. That makes this example extremely rare and, given only a fraction of the original 600 remain, the likelihood you’ll see one up for sale again is as minuscule as the number of 4x4 Squareds in existence today.

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Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (R107), 1989, 116.7k miles - sold for £28,544*

The Pagoda SL was always going to be a tough act to follow. Sleek, beautiful and surprisingly light, the Pagoda was a triumph when it arrived and is now among the most sought after Mercs there is. The follow-up R107, however, has taken a little longer to receive the love it deserves. It was a monumental leap over the W113 in terms of refinement and safety, and if you picked up an SL 500 like this you’d have considerably more power, too. A massive 5.0-litre V8 producing 240hp made the 500 the most powerful of the factory-built cars, and seems like the perfect fit for the R107’s stocky styling. Yes, they’ve been overlooked for years, but this 1989 example fetching £28,544 including the buyer’s fee with an impressive 116,735 miles on the clock is proof that they’re en route to joining the Pagoda in the land of collector-magnet SLs.

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If you’d like to sell a Mercedes or any other premium, performance or collectable car, please submit your car’s details here and a consignor will be in touch. Or, if you’d prefer to list your car on the PistonHeads classifieds, you can do so here.

*Auction car prices shown are inclusive of the buyer’s fee which is 6% of the selling price + VAT, with a minimum of £695 + VAT.

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Skd884

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