Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mercedes V12 has a fairly rare four-seat option, giving up the middle position for a console and some added extravagance. Let’s see if the price on this executive sedan makes it worth giving up some hard-earned cash too.
Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah CRACK PIPE! Yep, while looking like some sort of throw-back comic book (oops, sorry basement dwellers, “graphic novel”) crime-fighter’s car, yesterday’s custom 1983 Lincoln Continental Mark VI proved the only crime being committed was its price. That condemned the car to a massive 85% Crack Pipe loss, and general derision for its aesthetics. Thanks, Jalop-Crusaders!
While we don’t generally kitten to personal customs like that Lincoln, rare factory options do at times tend to peel our bananas. One of those is this 1995 Mercedes Benz S600 with its rarely checked seating arrangement option box. It’s not boy-girl boy-girl, although it could easily accommodate that. No, this V12-powered W140 eschews what has uncharitably and misogynistically been referred to as the “Bitch Seat.”
That means that instead of the expected bench in back you get a pair of adjustable and heated thrones separated by a substantial and burlwood festooned center console. The seating makes it the perfect ride in which to send your teenaged daughter to prom, as there’ll be no hanky-panky going on back there. Still, it’s a good idea to show her date your extensive collection of firearms.
At the time it was built it was also the ultimate expression of what was Mercedes’ ultimate sedan. The S600 took the W140 platform and piled on every possible bit of kit the company could bring to bear. First off you have a freaking V12 engine under its hood. That’s six liters and 389-bhp/420 lb-ft with which to work, in an application smoother than silk undies on ice.
As it hails from the ‘90s, there’s only four forward speeds in the MB automatic backing up the big twelve, but considering the specs it’s hard to argue the need for more. All that translated into sub-six second zero to sixty times for the 4,800-lb sedan, which is an impressive feat I think we all can agree.
The seller of this 69,000-mile S600 says it’s “smooth like a Leer Jet on the pavement” a phrase that I like for both its connotation and its unintentional double entendre. The ad states that the car is collector grade, and makes the claim that it has been well cared for its entire life. The champaign paint does seem to be in top-notch shape and the two-tone leather interior looks to likewise be in fine condition.
This of course has every standard feature Mercedes could fit into a W140, and hence there’s a lot that could go wrong. It’s of special note then that the ad doesn’t make mention of anything failing at this time. You wouldn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.
This isn’t this car’s first rodeo on the Internet. A couple of years back it appeared at auction on eBay, and that garnered it a mention on the awesome German Cars For Sale Blog. It made it all the way to seven grand before the auction timed out, at which time it was re-listed, getting up to 18 bids and $9,479.13. Even those thirteen cents it failed to meet reserve however, and was listed once again. That auction was pulled for whatever reason.
Now the car’s up on Craigslist with the many of the same pictures as before, and at a fixed price or $12,900. That’ll show ‘em! It’s you duty to determine if that fixed price will fix the issue with the car not seller, or if this cool Mercedes’ price needs to be less to see more interest.
You decide!
New Hampshire Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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