Monday 3rd August 2020

Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 | High Mile Club

Where better to cover 167,000 miles than in the original 'bahnstormer'?

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Mercedes-Benz had to feature early on in PH's new feature slot that celebrates all cars well used and worthy. The brand has a long tradition of big cars with big engines, designed almost specifically for doing big miles in. That Benz was famed for its quality for so long, and seems to be back to its best nowadays, which made something with a three-pointed star on its snout a shoo-in for the High Mile Club.

And there is no better exponent of classic Merc values than a 450 SEL 6.9 - we'll accept no argument on that. There have been an assortment of great Benz 'bahnstormers over the years, but arguably none have the enduring cachet and cult appeal of the '75 6.9. We've already celebrated the SEL's 45th anniversary this year (and we're counting down to the half century) so now it's time to bring to the collective attention a 6.9 that's lived exactly the life it was designed for.

Sold new in Paris in 1977 - a good start to any car history - the big Benz belonged to one Parisian family for 40 years, used as a daily driver throughout that time. Tastes, attitudes and fashions will have changed dramatically since then, but therein lies the beauty of an SEL; in Astral Silver over Black Leather with yellow tinted lights, there will never have been a point in Paris during those decades where it wasn't an immensely cool and desirable car. And there aren't many vehicles from 1977 that could be said about.

It was brought to the UK in 2017, from which time the SEL has been treated to a rolling restoration with its current owner. The full list of parts can be seen in the ad, but it looks like a lot of work has already been undertaken. Now, obviously, this is pretty complex V8 Mercedes that's more than 40 years old and is a lot closer to 200,000 miles than it is 100,000 - it's going to take some careful maintenance to keep in rude health. But it's always reassuring to see that the previous owner appears to have taken good care of their car.

More than that, there's good reason to be encouraged by the pics. They never tell the full story, and the combination of nice light with a good camera can cover a multitude of mishaps. That said, the chrome, paint, leather and engine bay all point to both a well built and lovingly maintained Mercedes. It would be near enough impossible to tell it's driven the equivalent of 18 Paris to Peking rallies in its lifetime.

Described in the advert as an "on-the-button 6.9" with "hilarious performance and otherworldly levels of cool" - exactly the kind of statements you'd want to read - this SEL looks quite the way to spend £30,000. And a Mercedes of this rarity, status and condition will always be covetable to those in the know. Left-hand drive will be a drawback for some, sure; the other side of that argument is it gives all the more reason to get the Mercedes back to Europe and doing what it does best: nonchalantly consuming autoroutes, autobahns and autostrada in great comfort and style. You'll be at 200,000 miles in no time, and hopefully enjoying every second - the SEL should be just about run in by then, too.

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See the original advert here

[Magikarp]

Is 3900 miles a year high mileage, or is it just a pampered garage harlot? Kudos to them for maintain its condition but that’s hardly being used.

[A1VDY]

Not high mileage . Being sold in Paris and having the yellow tinted lights isn't 'cool' and LHD isn't a drawback either. This write up is hardly good.

The actual car though looks lovely and comes from an era where a Merc had quality written all over it and is easy to maintain, very unlike today's pretty bland offerings.

Edited by A1VDY on Monday 3rd August 06:32

[Motorsport3]

Rare and interesting car. 4k miles a year might not sound a lot for a 5 year old car but when you get to 45 year old cars averages tend to go down as cars like these haven't been dailies for ages. With proper limo size and weight and 7lt engine I wonder about the consumption..

[TR4man]

Actually seems a low mileage to me considering it’s age. I was expecting something close to 500,000 but this one is barely run in.

[rossub]

A1VDY said:

Not high mileage . Being sold in Paris and having the yellow tinted lights isn't 'cool' and LHD isn't a drawback either. This write up is hardly good.

Edited by A1VDY on Monday 3rd August 06:32

God I hate this place.

Good article, I enjoyed reading it

[FA57REN]

"Sold new in Paris in 1977 - a good start to any car history"

Have you seen how they drive and park in Paris? Kinetic parking sensors and golf-ball dimpling ..

Yes it's a cool car but did this reads like a paid promotion.

[Hugh Jarse]

rossub said:

Good article, I enjoyed reading it

Enjoyable article. This car was the start of the large engined tradition, there were few large engined mercs before this, with the 4.5l v8 a relative newcomer as well.
The double level bumpers are wierd and I also have them on my tombstone-headlamp-one-before W108.
Have seen cars with them half bumpered but that also looks wierd. Just an idiosyncrasy to learn to love.
We have to thank Americans and Arabian countries for providing the buying-power to allow companies to develop most of interesting vehicles of our time, I feel they dont get the credit they deserve.

Edited by Hugh Jarse on Monday 3rd August 09:52

[TheOrangePeril]

A1VDY said:

having the yellow tinted lights isn't 'cool'

Edited by A1VDY on Monday 3rd August 06:32

With all due respect, you're wrong.

Lovely car but definitely not high mileage, I bet there are plenty of these nutting around Moroccan roads with 300-400k on the clock, not missing a beat.

[seawise]

the clock with be reading 270,000km which will feel more familiar to those who've spent time in north African taxi's...however condition is all on cars of this age, not mileage, so assuming it's 'on the button' as described wouldn't have a problem with it. i for one would love to smoke around in that.

[bqf]

Being born in Paris, cool. Yellow lights, cool. All cool. Excellent article.

[waynecyclist]

Looking at the high mileage thread, this is not really high miles for its year.

Cool car however

[mmm-five]

About the same mileage as my 14 year old Z4MC.

The SEL was obviously not good enough to make it as a daily driver then

[anonymous-user]

Woof. Yes please. What an effortlessly cool car

[Andy83n]

mmm-five said:

About the same mileage as my 14 year old Z4MC.

The SEL was obviously not good enough to make it as a daily driver then

Depends how far he had to drive each day.

So from a central Parisien apartment to favourite restaurant or mistress and back maybe 3km per day.

[Turbobanana]

As others have said, cool car but about 50% of the way to being high mileage. This could just as easily been a "Spotted" article. That said, I'm sure it will do the remaining 50% just as easily. Side note: scary to think how much fuel has been through the pipes of this over 45 years!

[Quhet]

Lovely car and a perfect fit into a 3 or 4 car fleet I'd say. Cool as fk usable classic

[Augustus Windsock]

TheOrangePeril said:

A1VDY said:

having the yellow tinted lights isn't 'cool'

Edited by A1VDY on Monday 3rd August 06:32

With all due respect, you're wrong.

Lovely car but definitely not high mileage, I bet there are plenty of these nutting around Moroccan roads with 300-400k on the clock, not missing a beat.

I very much doubt it, at least with this engine.
Being dry-summed is unusual for a car of its day, but not an issue,but I seem to remember that the engine costs a fortune to rebuild properly (I’m sure somebody will dredge Wikipedia or some such and find out!)
The advert doesn’t mention anything about engine refreshing / rebuild as far as I can see, so there could quite easily be a huge bill awaiting the next owner.
Mpg? I’m sure it’s official figures were something like 18mog (UK) or 15mpg (US) but the reality was around 12. Or less. A lot less when trying to push your Gucci loafer through the bulkhead...

[thegreenhell]

Hugh Jarse said:

Enjoyable article. This car was the start of the large engined tradition, there were few large engined mercs before this, with the 4.5l v8 a relative newcomer as well.
The double level bumpers are wierd and I also have them on my tombstone-headlamp-one-before W108.

I'm surprised that you, as a W108 owner, forgot about the 300SEL 6.3 that started the large-engined tradition in 1968.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_300_SE...

[BFleming]

Motorsport3 said:

With proper limo size and weight and 7lt engine I wonder about the consumption..

Mid teens mpg at best, but single figures not uncommon. On the plus side it had a 96 litre tank (21 Imperial Gallons). If you could afford one when new, consumption was not a concern. Personally I think £30k is a bargain.

[steveb8189]

Turbobanana said:

As others have said, cool car but about 50% of the way to being high mileage. This could just as easily been a "Spotted" article. That said, I'm sure it will do the remaining 50% just as easily. Side note: scary to think how much fuel has been through the pipes of this over 45 years!

About 50 tonnes of the stuff at 13 mpg - although this is only 2% of an olympic swimming pool which actually doesn't sounds that much. About the volume of a large garage.