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Mercedes-Benz 600SL r129 6.0 liter V12 1994

General description : In the late 1990s, when I was still working with a large Corvette tuner, we rented Waterford Hills Raceway in suburban Detroit for a day. While we were there, a NASCAR Craftsman truck team of some note was also on the track testing their latest hardware. It was fun to see how our Corvettes compared to a tube-chassis full-race machine. The track got a little busier when a writer from one of the big car magazines headquartered nearby showed up in an SL600 roadster just like this one. For fun, he took it out on the track and within a few short laps, was steadily closing the distance on the NASCAR truck. Eventually, the big, bad Benz stepped around the race truck and passed it on the front stretch, a Wagner aria blaring from the speakers just for effect, and the mighty V12 matching with its own baritone song. I’ve been playing with cars for nearly 40 years, and that is still one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had, right up there with blowing through a speed trap somewhere in Nebraska at better than 220 MPH. But that’s a story for another time.

What we’re talking about here is the world’s most civilized supercar. This stunning triple black 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL600 was the top of the line machine from the world’s most respected automaker, and shows just over 70,000 original miles today. All of the 1526 SL600s built in 1999 offered two-tone paint (except red cars), and it gives the sleek R129 shape an aggressive edge that makes it look long and sleek. Of course, in black, this Autobahn stormer looks absolutely sinister. For $135,000 dollars in 1994, you got some beautifully finished paint, with this one showing only minor signs of use, mostly limited to a few nicks on the nose. However, there’s just no mistaking the wide Mercedes grille and the famous three-pointed star in its center, and few cars are better at pushing slower traffic out of the fast lane than this. When you come hammering up on other drivers in this car, they tend to snap to attention and simply get out of the way before they’ve even had a chance to think about it. That’s PRESENCE.

Soft Nappa leather replaced the usual stiff perforated MB-Tex leather in the SL600, and the twin black buckets in this roadster are beautifully preserved with only light wear. In fact, there’s leather covering an awful lot of the interior, and while it doesn’t have the same upscale fragrance of, say, a vintage Jaguar, there’s definitely an aroma of quality materials. Virtually everything was standard equipment on the top-of-the-line SL600, including an upgraded entertainment system with a built-in cell phone, all of which probably seems quaint today. Lovely burled walnut warms up the business-like Mercedes interior, and you’ll probably want to spend an evening with the owner’s manual, because the vast array of gadgets, features, and buttons will have even the most brilliant cryptologist working overtime to decipher all the controls. There’s even an “MPG” gauge, which seems to be wired directly to your right foot—wiggle your big toe, and watch the gauge respond. Both seats are heated and powered, of course, and use the elegantly simple door-mounted seat controls. Overhead, there’s both a power black canvas convertible top and a removable hardtop, which seals the coupe up as tightly as any luxury sedan.

Although they appear the same on the outside, the SL600 differs from its less expensive siblings in one major way: more cylinders. And by more cylinders I mean 50-100% more! The silky smooth 6.0-liter V12 offers dual overhead cams and 48 valves, belting out 389 horsepower and enough torque to affect the earth’s rotation. Built in the days when the engineering department still ruled the Daimler-Benz organization and cost was no object, the engine is a bulletproof powerplant with a proven track record of running hundreds of thousands of miles with only routine maintenance. No finicky turbos, just major mechanical muscle hand-built to exacting standards. In typical Mercedes-Benz fashion, it’s quite content to motor around town with nary a whisper or vibration, and it does so happily now as the owner’s wife’s fair-weather toy. But plant your foot, as the NASCAR truck team discovered at the track that fateful day, and all twelve cylinders flex their muscle like a gathering storm. The instant rush of torque conspires to spin the rear tires, but the frantically flashing traction control light on the dash is your only clue. Moments later, you’re hurtling along with virtually zero physical indications of great speed aside from the speedometer reading and the landscape flashing by in a blur. And did I mention the sound it makes? You’ll feel it in your chest as much as hear it with your ears.

The SL600 uses a 4-speed automatic transmission, and with this much torque, extra gears are just superfluous. Like the engine, it makes seamless shifts when you’re commuting, but snaps off rifle-precise upshifts when the hammer is down, and eagerly drops down two gears when you bury the throttle in the deep pile carpeting to rocket around slower traffic. You will undoubtedly find yourself dipping into the car’s seemingly endless reserves of torque, savoring the sensation that feels much like being on the end of a massive recoiling rubber band. Fortunately, the adaptive damping suspension offers the control to match the horsepower, and the automatically adjustable ride height works as it should, hunkering the car down as speeds increase. There’s a massive disc brake at each corner, ably assisted by the best ABS and traction control systems available at the time. This SL also received gorgeous chrome AMG alloy wheels from the factory, measuring 18x8 up front and 18x9 in back—exotic footwear for 1994! Those gorgeous wheels are wearing a set of brand new 245/45/18 front and 75/35/18 rear Michelin Pilot radials that cost nearly $2000 and have fewer than 20 miles on them.

Vastly underrated, the SL600 is an everyday supercar. Even 25 years later, it remains an A-list celebrity and anywhere you go, people tend to notice the predatory black Mercedes silently cruising through traffic like an alpha predator. This one hails from the large collection of a well-regarded owner who is a fan of low mileage machinery, so its pedigree is known and it comes with a clean CarFax. If you’ve never owned a 12-cylinder motorcar, this may very well be the finest V12 ever made, and if you’re a Mercedes-Benz connoisseur, you already know what a special machine this is. Fast, rare, luxurious, and beautifully preserved, this is way more car than $20 grand should be allowed to buy.

Harwood Motors welcomes and encourages personal or professional inspections of any vehicle prior to purchase.

http://www.harwoodmotors.com/vehicles/inventory_details.php?id=1116

1994 Mercedes-Benz 600SL r129 6.0 liter V12 is listed sold on ClassicDigest in Macedonia by for $19900.

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