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Nov 3, 2009 08:00 AM
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Detroit, 6:24 AM
Wed Feb 10
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Whether you are an aspiring rapper, third-world potentate, or are just looking to be styling, Nice Price or Crack Pipe has a big-ass Benz that'll let your peeps know that's how you roll.
Yesterday we chatted up a high-mileage 840Ci until the owner showed up and we all had to look busy. But that wasn't before 55% of you bought a ticket for the Nice Price express. That car's attraction was in its originality and nearly factory-fresh appearance, and today we have another product of der Fatherland, but if this one went home, its own mother might not recognize it.
Mercedes Benz has a long history of making autobahn-chewing locomotives. When the W116 S-Class superseded the W109 in 1974, the opportunity was taken to upgrade the M100 from 6.3 litres to 6.9. The 450SEL 6.9 was built on its own assembly line, and debuted with a number of advanced technologies including Citroen-sourced hydropneumatic suspension and an early attempt at anti-lock brakes, co-developed with Bosch.
That mighty 6.9 put out like a porn star. Factory specs are 286-bhp and 405-ft-lb of twisty-twist, enough to pull the 4,200-lb car to sixty from a standstill in a hair over seven ticks. The iron block V8 uses a forged crank and connecting rods along with sodium-filled valves for strength and durability. After being hand-built, each engine was bench-tested prior to being dropped under the hood of the 116-inch wheelbase sedans. Very limited in production numbers, and at over $16,000 new, the top of the line Benz competed with Ferrari and Rolls for executive car buyer's dollars.
But that's not the case today, as we have a 1978 example that's asking only $6,000 to plop down behind the driver's seat. Not only that but it comes with a litany of upgrades, euro-spec parts, and one option that isn't from that exclusive assembly line- a roadster top. Yeah, this is a 450 SEL not an SL, and it's still rocking the four doors. What it's missing is the frame around those doors as well as all the metal that connected those frames together. You could lament the loss of the sunroof, which would give you the option of open or closed motoring, because this bad boy lacks any kind of top whatsoever. That means that those living in rainy climates, or lacking covered parking should probably just keep walking here.
Now this is a Euro-spec car so it sports the pencil bumpers rather than the federal car's battering rams, but with the structural integrity of the top gone, it'd probably be best not to run into anything harder than an old friend at the mall.
So, one man's meat is another man's 6.9 without a roof, and while this is a unique property, it may not be for everybody, what about that $6,000? Does that price blow the doors off as well as the roof? Or, is this one 6.9 that you think should be 86'd?
You decide!
San Francisco Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
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