What's It Worth? 1985 Mercedes Benz 500SEL "Euro"..Benz Puts The Hammer Down

In the 1980′s if you were anybody you drove a big bodied Benz. Considered by many Mercedes Benz experts the W126 chassis Benz was the best S-Class ever offered by the German auto maker. First brought to market late in 1980 the W126 S-class would be produced between 1980-1991. Styled by Mercedes Benz design master Bruno Sacco the W126 was both classy and serious in looks and

performance.

Models ranged in the USA from the 300SD “Turbodiesel” to the long wheelbase whopper the 560SEL. Both the 500-560SEL’s got Mercedes road hugging Hydra-numatic rear suspension that lowered the car a high speeds. Cars not meant for the USA’s tough emissions laws were called “Grey Market” or “Euro”. What that meant was they had little or no power robbing emissions.

With that you got alot more horsepower and top speeds of over 160MPH. If you were a big dollar Wall Street trader or some other greedy 80′s type you were able to “sneak” in a Grey Market Benz into the USA. The “Mother” of all these Euro trimmed Benzes was the 500SEL produced between 1981-1985. On our open roads a 500SEL was almost uncatchable, except maybe by a Porsche 911 Turbo.

Powering the German road barge was the M117 5.0 liter overhead cam V8. All aluminum in construction it was robust, fast, reliable and could propel you to 0-60 in 6.5 seconds. In the