Older luxury cars are often a risky proposition, but you could do a lot worse than running a Mercedes W126. Available in coupe or sedan versions, this is said by many Mercedes enthusiasts to be one of the last to be designed and built with an eye to maximum quality. The facelifted second series S-class debuted in 1985, and featured the 4.2- and 5.6-liter V8 engines. While these were far from the 6.3 and 6.9 installed in previous generations of Mercedes’ top sedan, they still put out about 200hp and a respectable 288 lb.-ft. of torque. You can find this 1986 Mercedes 560 SEC for sale for C$3250 in Surrey, BC.
Nobody ever bought these for their scintillating performance. They handle well, no doubt, but they are large, heavy cars and are said to feel that way. However, the solid feeling of everything in this car is something to experience, because this car insanity of ours is not so simple as how quickly you can get to 60 or get around a track. When you consider the coupe weighs just over 3500 lb., and the sedan about 100 lb. more, the V8’s specs don’t seem so bad, and whether you prefer to do 65 or 95 on the freeway, you’ll enjoy that confident feeling of driving some of Germany’s finest work.
This car looks in gorgeous shape for the price, and the unusual (non silver/gray/black) color is perfect. It’s said to have listed at around $70,000 new, but is now available for a mere 5% of that cost. With a new starter, alternator, and battery, you’ll want to make sure they actually solved the problem since electrical issues in a car of this complexity are never any fun. New tires are also included, and those aftermarket wheels look great – hefty and aggressive, and definitely Mercedes-inspired. Fortunately, this one has escaped the 80s-gold-trim curse, which afflicted so many of these when new.
Even the interior is in good shape, with the leather looking supple, if a little loose. Unfortunately, the stereo has been upgraded to a recent Alpine unit, and it’s not clear what the doohickey mounted on the side of the center console (left of the stereo) is supposed to do. With about 140,000 miles, this car should have a lot of life left in it yet, as these can easily hit 250-300K.
“But,” you splutter, “I want to look at a complex 1980s luxury car with even less detail in the listing!” Well, fear not, for that car exists – it’s this 1986 Mercedes 560 SEL for sale in Langley, BC for a mere C$2300. This car features some AMG monoblock wheels and a front spoiler that both compliment the silver paint very well.
From the listing text, we know what the car is and that it’s for sale. The photographs suggest the leather may have some cracking, and the rear features some tacky square exhaust tips – something more understated would be appropriate here. Other than that, things look pretty good for the age and price. It’s nice to see the original Becker stereo is in place here – cross your fingers it still works.
These cars featured several innovations, including ABS, airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, 8-way power seats controlled by a set of buttons designed to resemble a seat, and an early version of adaptive cruise control and transmission programming which relied on an incline/decline sensor to determine behavior. While some of these features were not necessarily firsts, they were sometimes the first successful implementation. And for C$5550 (just over $5K US) you can have one of each in your driveway, and possibly even on the road.
Tags: 560 sec, 560 sel, coupe, Feature, german, mercedes, sedan
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