The Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL luxury saloon had the title

When it was launched all the owners could claim that they drove “the best car in the world”, with the largest engine of all post-war Mercedes, boasting the still-impressive figure of 560 Nm of torque and an acceleration on a par with the very desirable Porsche 911.

However, when the the oil crisis arrived, this big engine Benz with its thirsty engine got delayed until 1975. It had everything that was technically feasible in the 1970s.

Did you know that it came with hydropneumatic suspension and air conditioning as standard? Plus, it has heated seats (cold climate users loved this), cruise control, ABS and even a car phone came at a neat extra charge.

Despite a high asking price, there were 7,380 units sold globally.

In spring 1975 Mercedes-Benz introduced the model series 116 which was to be their top-of-the-line model, the 450 SEL 6.9. The high-performance saloon was one of the fastest vehicles at the time, as only very few sports cars were able to reach even higher speeds.

Today, collectors are looking for the model series 116 vehicles, especially the ones with 6.9-litre M 100 engine.

It carried all the qualities to make it a classic car starting with very low production numbers which was just 7,380 vehicles. The 116 S-Class was introduced in September 1972 and all the units were produced in Sindelfingen between 1975 and 1980.

It received a number of awards from its launch. British “Motor” magazine remarked the following: “There is only one word to sum it all up: fabulous!” And “auto motor und sport” headed up edition 21/1975 with a simple “The world’s best car” and captioned: “The 450 SEL 6.9 sets new benchmarks in the automotive top class.”

These included the 450 SE’s being named the 1974 “Car of the Year”. Three years later, the top-of-the-line model 450 SEL 6.9 rounded off the model range (which started with the 280 S) at the top end.

Meanwhile, its predecessor, the 300 SEL 6.3, generating 250 horsepower, already set a benchmark within the luxury saloon segment.

The selling price in January 1976 was a whopping 69,930.00 German marks as the basic price. By comparison, the entry-level variant of model series 116, the 280 S, was priced at 28,848.90 German marks and the model series W 115 Mercedes-Benz 200 was available for 18,381.60 German marks in 1976.