Many of us know there are vehicles in our particular fields of interest that are terrible ideas to buy, let alone restore, yet we still cannot resist their allure. For me, I have a penchant for powerful, low-slung German sedans, typically models built in limited supply with a distinct performance bent to them. The Audi S cars, the BMW M5, and so on. Of course, the granddaddy of them all is this one, a 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL with the monstrous 6.9L V8 engine under the hood and myriad other costly features to revive in this barn find example listed here on Dickensheet.com.
The auctioneer who is overseeing the listing notes that it came out of an estate in Colorado associated with a Mercedes-Benz collector. The condition indicates this was not a completely neglected example but rather a car that the owner had plans for and simply never got around to finalizing. The cosmetics are excellent, with a gorgeous butterscotch interior that appears to need nothing, as even the sensitive wood trim is in excellent shape. The carpets are clean and vacuumed, and overall, it’s confidence-inspiring – but the seller makes no mention of how the windows, locks, and HVAC systems are operating.
This is a European model, or gray market example, that was imported in 1985. This means less restrictive exhaust and emissions equipment, along with reduced weight (typically) due to fewer crash protection features. The slimmer bumpers are another telltale sign, along with the glass H4 headlamps. Usually, when you find a barn find European-spec car, these parts have already been stripped off, so it’s great to find a car like this with all of those desirable bits intact. The 6.9 badge on the rear is a subtle reference to the performance that lies under the hood, perfectly understated.
The listing notes that the water pump pulley is disconnected, but doesn’t specify whether they did that to address a noisy pulley or the previous owner was midway through a water pump job. Regardless, it seems like a minor concern given how quickly these cars become absolute nightmares when left to sit. The seller notes the fuel tank has already been cleaned, the fuel pump replaced, and the hydraulic suspension tested to confirm it still functions correctly. In European-spec trim, the 6.9 produces 286 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque. Count on 0-60 times safely under 8 seconds, and style and swagger that only comes with a bruiser like this. If you’ve ever owned a 6.9, let us know what the ownership experience was like in the comments below.
I was wowed by the smoking 180 degree reverse burnout in one of these piloted by Jean Reno & Robert DeNiro in John Frankenheimer’s 1998 film “Ronin”! Very impressive! GLWTA!! :-)
I owned a high-milage ’75 for about about 6 months in the mid 80s. It had been driven hard, year-round and was beginning to rust. It was a real “10 footer”, that I got cheap, as-is, when it was traded in at dealership where I knew the owner. I spent a few hundred getting it to run relatively well. I enjoyed it for a summer, blasting around cottage country highways. Although somewhat tired, it still had “balls”. By the fall, it was obvious that it would need more work than it would be worth, so I decided to sell. While the market was strong for 6.9s, buyers only wanted nice ones, and I got no offers attempting to sell privately. Just as winter began, I ended up trading it on a late 70s K5 Blazer (winter beater) at a sleazy used car dealer. I knew the dealer had a bad rep, and decided to take advantage of it. I pretended that I didn’t know my 450 SEL was a 6.9. He was in such a hurry to buy it at a price he thought was a steal, he did not inspect it. I didn’t check the Blazer very well either….. A few weeks later it became apparent that the K5 was not much better than my 450, just a lot cheaper to fix. I probably broke even in the end. In late spring, I traded the Blazer for a nice ’74 Jag XJ6 SWB in British racing green. It didn’t perform nearly as well as my 450 6.9, but it was more comfortable…. and wasn’t rusty.
Haha, nice move on that shady dealer! I had a ‘78 450 SEL. Refinished the trunk lid, and put on a 6.9 medallion. Guy honked at me on the freeway and said that’s no 6.9. He saw the stock bumpers. The USA 6.9 had rubber covers over them.
“Running” but has the water pump pulley disconnected? In person inspection required. The price so far seems reasonable, but whomever buys this had better budget a few thousand more for current and future repairs, as needed.
As I recall, period road tests were loving the acceleration and top speed, but the brakes did not get much if any of an upgrade from the 450 SEL starting point and would fade pretty quickly when pushed,
So… My ex father in law, Reza, was the head of the Savak in Iran under the Shah. It’s the equivalent of the CIA. The Shahs wife was coming to America to visit. This is around the time things weren’t going good for him, 78, 79, and Reza had left Iran, and was setting roots here. Iran delivered a bullet proof 6.9 Mercedes for him to drive his wife around for a week and gave him the car when she left. It was a garage queen and only had 20k miles by 1990. He gave the car to his American ex wife, and she drove the wheels off it until someone familiar with the car offered her a good sum of money. It was dark grey, with black interior.
I remember Road & Track had review that included a picture of a 6.9 popping a wheelie at a dragstrip… They might even have called it “The greatest sedan ever.”
Sold
A situation came up where I was designated to drive one of these from Chicago to St.Louis in January. Sometime beyween 1977 and 1980. (I don’t remember the year or the year of the car.) It was very cold out with about 40 mph cross winds blowing snow. The road (I 57) was clear and dry except for under the overpasses. Where the the snow would accumulate sometimes as much as 18″ deep. So I’m cruising 80-85 mph and when encountering “the overpass snow drift” the car would do a very minor side slide. Easily corrected with minor steering input. I passed a guy in an older Pontiac convertible who was traveling at about 60 mph. He decided to tuck in behind me to let me “beat the bushes”. The very next overpass had about a 12″ drift which again required a minor steering correction to keep the Mecedes on the straight path. I looked in my rear view mirror and all I saw was a huge snow cloud with a Pontiac exiting sideways. It was a nice driving car with “A Presence” . But not my style of transportation.
Why would anybody in the right mind disconnect a water pump pulley? The only thing I could figure is number one the impeller or the bearings are seized up and it’s making an awful squealing noise or number two, the water pump is pushing the water and it is leaking out of places in the engine that they don’t want anyone to know about. Those are my own two guesses.
Of course I am no expert on Mercedes. The only thing I know is that the metal is very thin and when the Mercedes gets into a wreck, the Mercedes-Bends.
Hey, that’s the best I could do.
Nits/nats – I’d say this car’s predecessor, the 300SEL 6.3 is the Grand-daddy. The performance on these isn’t quite up the 6.3’s standard because mid-late 70’s emission targets had begun to strangle engine performance and the 6.9’s weighed 400-500 lbs more that the 6.3’s. Nevertheless, both are fine examples of high performing, teutonic wonder machines.
Oh, another memory about the time we bought a 6.3 MB about 25 years ago. Big mistake, but nowhere near as bad as if I had bought a 600 with the same 6.3 engine. The smaller 300 SEL 6.3 car has an air suspension instead of both air and hydraulics that the bigger 600 has, including hydraulic windows and trunk lid, etc. Our car was a “monster” nevertheless. I replaced the air bags myself for just $1000 then in parts. But my wife teases me when she recalled the last thing the seller said, “keep an eye on the fluids”. The engine oil leaked, but worse, the big mechanical fuel pump that sits in the engine valley also leaked. It has its own oil sump. Fuel started leaking as well! I sold it for half what I paid in trade for a nice reliable 300SD 5-cylinder diesel. That’s not the same beast certainly.
Sorry- I mis-remembered. My above comments should be associated with the 6.3, not this 6.9. Apologies.
Car&Driver was really fond of the 6.3……and at about the same time, the then-new Mazda RX2 with 13B rotary power.
If you’re flush with cash this would have been a great risk, I mean purchase.
I had a 420SEL years ago and that barge would fly. Knowing what a 4.2 can do I can’t imagine what a 6.9 would do.
Kinda wish I’d have kept it but how many times have we all said that 🤔.
like buying crypto, it’s a huge risk owning one of these. I have owned a dozen mercedes, many old, some brand new. and I worked for mercedes benz. nope, I enjoy life as carefree as possible, this is just a complication.
I owned a 77 6.9 for several years. It was a fast car for its time. I remember driving on the freeway one rainy day. It was pouring out, windshield wipers were at full speed, and rain was collecting on the pavement. I was driving in the fast lane and wondering why all the other cars were driving so slow. I figured the rain was bothering them. I looked down at my speedometer and I was doing 110mph. The car was just cruising without the rain or puddling bother it at all.
The sad part of my story was a year later I was stopped at a red light. I car from the opposite direction ran the red light lost control and hit me head on at over 30mph. The 6.9 was built like a tank. It took the hit and the front barely crushed. I wasn’t hurt at all. It took over a year for the car to be repaired as it required special parts from Germany. Repairs cost over 15k and this was in the 80’s. I sold the car after it was repaired.
My “rich uncle ” owned an earlier one that I drooled over as an early teen. He didn’t drive much and it mostly sat. I hinted that I would love to have when I was turned 16 and of course since he wasn’t stupid he didn’t consider giving it to a 16 year old kid. My only other recollection of the car was that he had invest $2200 to fix the air conditioning which was a big number back in the mid 1970’s.
I owned 450 SEL in the early 90’s for 30 days i bought it at a bank auction and it was low mileage, it was incredible to drive but only got about 7 to 10 miles per gallon. I took it to the service center and said I think I have a problem with this car and told him about the gas mileage, his reply was no that is about correct for this car. It has a 25 gallon gas tank and gas prices were through the roof at that time, I drove it from tampa to Jacksonville and back it costs me $95 dollars in fuel. Sadly I had to sell it after that.
To put that into perspective, $2200 would have bought you a NEW Pinto, Vega or VW Beetle in 1970. $2200 in ’70 equivalent to $19,000 in ’26 dollars. So, yes, an expensive A/C repair.