Curbivore Brad spotted this in country Echuca and sent it to fellow curbivore jim, who sent it on to me. Those little numbers on the right tell us this is the mighty 6.9 litre V8 version of the Mercedes Benz 450 SEL, the superest of super saloons. It’s got ACT plates, which means it’s 350 km from home. And it’s on its way to Adelaide, which is another 570 km away. As the crow flies. And this is a round trip.
Jim know his 6.9s. He has one in DB 906 Grey Blue. This is the view from his sunroof.
He and Brad (himself owner of 300 SE Lang heckflossen – yep, more than one) think the silver car was once run by BHP, the mining conglomerate. It was apparently thrashed through the outback during its tenure.
Our gentleman had a brief chat with Brad, revealing that the car has done 500,000 km.
Jim’s not surprised, his has done 323,000 km and the head has never been off.
The 6.9 was launched in 1975, but we got it in 1978. Juan Manuel Fangio was in Australia that year to run a W196R GP car against Jack Brabham in his BT19. Before the race, some motoring journalists were taken for a spin in a 6.9. Peter Gavaghan of the Melbourne Sun;
‘The drive was a revelation as well as an exhilarating experience. As Fangio whisked me along it was impossible not to be infected by the passion for driving. There was never a moment’s anxiety. Fangio punted the heavy car in a display of skill and swift reflexes that belied his 67 years. He pushed the car around bends at substantially higher speeds than I would have done, but never once did he provoke a blink from any passengers.’
Numbers sold here via M-B; 1978 – 87, 1979 – 140, 1980 – 1. Our silver car is apparently a private import.
I used to do CC trips like this when I lived interstate, but now that I’m back in Melbourne the longest I’ve done in my W116 280 SE is about 400 km round. This car’s body is ideal for those extended drives; you can stretch out your legs thanks to its lowline profile, and the package is ergonomically untiring. Mine has that same darkened left-side rear light cluster, but it doesn’t have the autobahn-inhaling 6.9.
This gentleman is doing it in absolute style.
Further Reading
Nice to see an old workhorse still on the road at 300k+ miles, kept decent looking as well. Not surprising you found the owner filling her up at a gas station. Impressive at 200k miles Jim’s car’s head has never been off, probably has had a timing chain replacement after all these miles. Back in the era when German cars were built to last.
Glad I don’t rack up the miles on the old 300k miles ’86 Jetta anymore, just gets used mostly around town these days. Engine and trans never been apart as well, but is on it’s 3rd timing belt. It did break a T belt back in ’92 at around 110k miles, was glad it has a non-interference engine so no damage. That was the only time it ever stranded me and required a tow. At 3:00 AM in Palmdale in monsoon rain. Lucky for me this section of hwy 14 had tow patrol, found me fifteen minutes after I stalled and got a free tow to the next offramp. I actually had the car checked at a VW dealership in Washington before heading back to SoCal when it started to run poorly and asked them to check T belt, turns out all the mechanic did was reset the timing at the distributor, it had already jumped a tooth at this point and I was told the belt was OK. Did once break a weld on shifter linkage rod, but was 3 miles from work and in second gear, so made it in under it’s own power. Not a bad record for 27 years.
“Did once break a weld on shifter linkage rod, but was 3 miles from work and in second gear, so made it in under it’s own power.”
Spoken like a true Curbsider- You describe a failure that would sideline most drivers, but here at CC we adapt, overcome, and ultimately arrive at our destination!
True that, I also carry a spare fuel pump relay and have had to plug in a new one while on the road a couple of times over the years. Ears are tuned in in to the sound of a running (or not) fuel pump. There would have been a couple more tows if not for CC automotive thought process.
Your title ” This Is How We Do it”, instantly reminded me of Claude Lelouche’s seminal “Rendez-vous” film from 1976, which was of course shot from a 6.9 in the pre-dawn of a Paris summer day, and not the screaming Ferrari 275GTB that provided the soundtrack.
Speaking of, if it weren’t for the soundtrack, it wouldn’t work nearly as effectively, as he’s not really driving all that fast on many of the stretches, especially the straights. He’s doing maybe 60-65 mph on the straights, but based on the number of shifts and engine sounds, you’d think it was 160. But it’s a great film nevertheless.
Here’s the 6.9 with its camera. And Lelouche still has the 6.9 today.
Hey, if she said ‘be here in 9 minutes’, my reply would be ‘I’ll beat that time’ 🙂 But I’d need a proper sports car or GT sedan.
I saw some great CCs, a 2002 BMW, a Citroen, a Beetle, some Mustangs…
I remember uncovering a copy of this in the early 90s – VHS and grainy as, back then the Ferrari story hadn’t been debunked.
Speaking of sounds, there’s a 6.9 that does duty in John Frankenheimer’s ‘Ronin’. One of the things I loved about this film was the way he treated the car sounds during hard driving sequences.
(jim getting his sunroof shot at about 1:40)
Frankenheimer was a fan of the 6.9, he had one himself. I don’t think he was using his own car in that film, I think he used to opportunity to have the production acquire one for him so he could thrash it around.
Interesting guy. There is, of course, Grand Prix with great racing camerawork but the drama component – as with Le Mans – is lacking. He did some other great stuff. Birdman of Alcatraz is superb viewing and so is his French Connection 2 – alas no great car chase. He’d been gone for ages when Ronin appeared. What a return to form. Good film all round, not just driving.
The music coming from that V8 is GLORIOUS
That is so cool! Must have been really early in the morning, as he whipped around the Etoile, made a straight shot down the Champs Elysees, made a turn at the Place de la Concorde, past the Tuileries, passed the Garnier Opera, drove north to end up at the Sacre Coeur.
A brilliant piece of automotive history. Paris was really astonishingly empty back then. And how close the Louvre was toward the road! But now that I see it again, I realize that I am a little dissapointed about that Ferrari(?) sound. Imho they should have kept the original smooth 6.9 sound.
A 6.9? That’s got to be really thirsty on fuel. How appropriate that that car was found at a filling station…
No, we can’t all be driving thirsty cars anymore like we once did. In fact today’s NY Times has a cover story about how Tasmania’s shoreline is getting chewed away by rising sea levels.
But this Mercedes is glorious. It represents a pinnacle of development of the motorcar. It still has much to teach us about how to build a fine car. Kudos to those who keep them on the road in great shape and rack up the miles (or kms).
Fangio was glorious too. Thanks for including that bit.
Fangio is my top driver. Glad you appreciated that little moment.
I’ve loved the 6.9 since I was a kid, as my friend’s dad had one and I had two highly memorable rides in it. But I will repeat here a story I’m mentioned elsewhere on CC, and that I was once told by a specialist mercedes shop owner and mechanic: The only mercedes he would not accept if given him for free would be a 6.9. He said that the engine bay is so full that every minor engine maintenance item requires lifting the engine. His example was changing the spark plugs. That said, I’d take one!
A Beast of a Benz, very nice post !
Just yesterday I read a post on the Dutch Autoblog site. On that day 4 out of 5 cars with the highest mileage on the odometer on “Marktplaats” (a sort of Dutch Craigslist) happened to be a Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211, more specifically) 200 CDI. The other one was also a Benz, a 2001 W220 S-Class 320 CDI.
The 4 E-Class Benzes (good for almost 3.4 million km in total) were ex-taxis, below the winner: a 2009 W211 200 CDI wagon with 912,000 km (570,000 miles) on the clock.
If you want to rack up the miles by the hundreds of thousands, the preferred choice is (still) a Benz diesel. YMMV in other parts of the world, naturally.
Starting to see Hyundai Sonata ex taxi diesels for sale here still running fine with up to 500,000kms racked up, Falcons running LPG last out their eight year taxi lives on one engine several transmissions and diffs but the low compression engines on gas went almost for ever.
Only one car for sale in Denmark (on Bilbasen) currently cracks 700,000kms: A first generation MB Sprinter 312 at 703,000. Number two at 688,000 is a first generation C-class.
Here’s the W211 E200 CDI quartet with a total of 3,373,279 km on the clock.
Source: http://www.autoblog.nl/nieuws/bewijs-mercedes-e200-cdi-is-beste-auto-ter-wereld-98012
I forgot to add mine; 347,000 km.
4 x W211 + W116 = 3,720,279
never understood why they never built one with a manual transmission. 450sel with a five speed stick is my dream car.
Do you really not understand it, or do you just wish they did. It seems obvious that the people who buy them want automatics, and the people (like us) who dream about them want manuals. It seems MB focused strictly on the actual customers for the configuration of this one.
How about this one then: In South Africa the E23 7 series was built with the M5/M6 engine and a manual. The one called 745i for that market was set up with the M5/M6 engine and not the turbocharged 3.3 like all other markets. That would be another way to get some of what you want.
CC effect Mads. Saw this 745 last weekend. Thought it was ‘badge engineered’ but it’s a genuine SA car. Owner had the BMW club article on his baby in the boot. It’s been his for 17 years. Auto.
It was popular in the seventies for owners to “upgrade” their Mercedes emblems. 280SEs like Don’s became 450SEs or even 450SELs. The Turbodiesels magically became gas powered. 450SELs became 6.9s. It was easy to tell a fake because only a real 6.9 had the extra wide rub strips on the US-spec bumpers. Those were a big part of the bruiser rep and I rather miss them on the feature car. Still what an awesome find!
Badge swapping wasn’t a thing so much here, although (silent) jim says there was a badge delete option during the Baader Meinhof years.
To my knowledge, MB has always had a badge delete option? And it works both ways. It’s a great way to play down and be discrete. But also bluffing about a hand that doesn’t exist. Either you got something or you got nothing…
Did the RAF situation spawn this option back then? If so, it’s very interesting.
That would make the badge delete more of a safety option – like ABS or airbags. I thought it was just for bosses who did not want their employees to know just _how_ much more money they made.
No, I’d say Ingvar is right, that it’s always been an option. Personally have never seen a badge delete M-B from before the 80s.
Actually my modern ’03 ML320 is now at 220,000 with no major repairs and running beautifully. Even though people think they’re “inferior”. All maintenance schedules observed though
Interesting that Victoria, like New Jersey, is the Garden State.
Not anymore, They changed it in the mid 90s to “Victoria, On the Move, a lot of people wondered where it was moving to.
Then it became, “Victoria, The Place to Be”, now it is called “The Education State”
I may have missed one or two others, they seem to change it a lot.
I always liked The Garden State, but I think the various state governments we’ve had like more “show off” type logos.
And there was the option of getting a plate that just said “Victoria”, with no slogan. Our last new car came that way.
It was “Stay alert, stay alive” when they first switched over to the new format after ZZZ.999.
My sister moved to Canberra for a couple of years and had to change her car over to ACT plates. She chose “Age friendly city”–one of the less popular options….
Definitely not as good as “Feel the power of Canberra”, though!
You missed “STAY ALERT STAY ALIVE”
This is my W124 taken a few years ago. Still have it, currently nudging 600 000 km, running fine on the flat. I have my high mileage certificates and badges at 250k and 500k from Mercedes. You no longer measure the torque in Nm, but Nmm, most of the horses have run away now. Currently looking / waiting for a 560 SEL to come along to donate it’s engine and transmission. Big mileage was from many runs from Townsville to Melbourne in the early 2000’s.
KJ in Oz
Nmm… hehehe. There’s a black 560 SEL hiding near home. Don’t think they want to sell.
Not long ago there was a house ~1km from here that had ~4-5 W126s. One day I was driving, had a glance and all save one were gone!
But then, there’s 560SEL on another road, faded blue paint, club plates…
Ask them… you never know.
Good thing you posted this. I snapped this one some months ago.
The blacking out of the LH tail lamp may be caused by the soot coming from the exhaust or heat degradation. The pipes are just below.
We used to call the W116 “tiburon” (shark) and had local assembly. One of my uni mates parents had a mint white one.
My childhood memories of these is that they were for rich people. More recently, I saw them in decay and with serious rust issues, specially in the rocker/sill area.
Unfortunately, not my style of Benz. Looks wise, I like the Bruno Sacco ones better: W124; W126, W201 & 202 and of course the R129. They are timeless
Speaking of which… Gumtree is filled w/W124s with over 300K kms… for cheap. W126s can be found, altough V8s are harder to find.
There’s something intriguing about the Fangio photo. It’s almost certainly taken at the amusingly-named Emu Bottom Farm where the launch was held. The 6.9 was flung about local roads by the great man to demonstrate that a) the car was peerless and that b) the hardened journos were not Fangio and never would be. Years later, one such admitted that they were all big-eyed by the colossal speeds at which Fangio drove on narrow roads, but never actually terrified because he exuded a calm and judgement not available to mortals; 120mph+ onto a one-way bridge with an oncoming local doing at least 60mph almost onto the bridge, he did not lift. I digress to speculate that journos who’d worn the then-popular brown trousers were pleased with their choice that day. Anyway, in 2008 it was claimed that in ’78 the 6.9 had been sold as a demonstrator (I’ll say!) to the future Premier of the State of Victoria, the, um, popular Jeff Kennett. (“Premier” is roughly like a US State Governor.I digress to say that Mr Kennett later had many demonstrators, though they were not cars. I may or amy not have been one of them). The intrigue is that the plates shown in Dons’ 1978 photo are different to the still-original plates shown in the 2008 auction photo. Now, possibly there were two 6.9’s at Emu Bottom that day. Or possibly a politician made a claim where the numbers (and letters) add up to, well, emu bottom output. (Oh, surely not!) You see, if it’s the Kennett car, it has mildly interesting local provenance; if also the Fangio terror speziale, a car with documented proof of the God himself creating automotive art in it, it has properly fascinating and possibly internationally attractive provenance. And a price difference to match, maybe?
You’ve touched on some interesting points that silent (because his internet is down right now) jim has discussed with me before. The Kennett car is thistle green, whereas AGM 199 might not even be a metallic. It’s possible there were more than one 6.9 present on drive day, but what’s not clear is which car(s) el chueco actually drove.
Ah, quite right you are, it’s not even clear what colour AGM is. Also, to be fair to Kennett (if I must), it’d have been a pretty good sales line to him at the time, such claims being notoriously – shall we say – factually inscrutable. Rather like my 14 y.o.’s claim that I saw Fangio at Sandown in 1982, only to find out a week later that whoever I’d been admiring was certainly not the man ill (and unable to attend) in Buenos Aires. Oh dear. Did, though, see Stirling Moss, Denny Hulme and others, a w196, p3 Alfa, 300SL, a red 50’s racing Ferrari up very close indeed. Because there was no great interest in old cars and drivers then, plus a 40 degree day (and no security at all) meant few people and a remarkable day out for a CC child. Even if the extreme heat did give a bit of brain-fade regarding the Fangio sighting.
I know for a fact AGM was light blue and not green. Send me a PM if you’d like more info.
The w116 M-B was and remains an amazing automobile .
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Not my cuppa tea but .
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One of my old M-B’s has 416,000 miles on it, another only 350,000, the third is just ! 149,000, all are sweet cars .
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I have loved the ‘Rendezvous’ film since I first saw it in 199? I never knew until to – day what the vehicle was .
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-Nate