When a car wears a paint color you don’t often see, it can transform your opinion of it almost instantly. A W109-series Mercedes-Benz sedan is a vehicle you associate with staid colors and restrained appearances, so seeing this 1969 300 SEL 6.3 wearing Moss Green paint is a treat. Hopefully, that will be enough to convince someone to take a chance on this project-grade car which has been parked for years with a failed head gasket. The 300SEL is listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $17,975. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Zappenduster for the find.
Curiously, this mighty 6.3 sedan is parked next to a desirable BMW E9 coupe. Is that for sale as well? It’s a worthwhile question, as the seller is the same individual who listed this rare early 1960 Citroen DS19 we featured a few days ago. He has a few other vehicles many of us would enjoy to own as well, but today, we’re talking about the 300 SEL. Mercedes basically wrote its reputation for building high-performance sedan into the history books with the 6.3-powered sedan, as it was this engine and model that showed sleepy four-doors could be legitimate rocket ships.
A headgasket repair on an M100 is not small task, however. The DOHC top end will require sensitive disassembly, and one has to wonder how many original parts still exist, assuming some level of breakage upon disassembly. The Mercedes Classic Center does an excellent job of stocking hard-to-find components, but that comfort doesn’t come cheap. A machine shop will also be needed, and I suspect the pricing for machining components off of a vintage European engine will come at a premium compared to a run-of-the-mill head. The seller goes so far to claim it needs a complete tear-down and rebuild, so perhaps he has more insights on the history of this car.
The black cabin is an attractive pairing with the green exterior, and the floor-mounted shifter is a more sporting option than the traditional column-mounted assembly. The cosmetics appear sound throughout, thanks to many years of indoor storage. The seller claims it is 99 percent rust-free, which is a powerful selling point for a vintage Mercedes that has been sitting idle for years. This is a tempting project, but keep in mind the engine rebuild is just one undertaking that will need to be performed on a complex piece of machinery like this. Would you rescue it?
That’s a pretty grungy car with a bum engine for that kind of money. Bet the air bag suspension won’t be cheep to fix either. Not quite special enough to mess with.
I love these 6.3s, but this would drain your bank account in short order. It would turn into a six figure labor of love. A proper rebuild of the M100 engine alone can easily run $20,000–40,000, and sometimes considerably more if major hard parts are worn. They’re magnificent engines, but they are not small-block Chevys! And this is even before you get to all the things you’ll need to address due to its lengthy hibernation, which probably would include everything made out of rubber.