The Mercedes-Benz 600 was a high-end large luxury sedan and limousine produced by Mercedes-Benz from 1963 to 1981. Generally, the short-wheel-base (SWB) models were designed to be owner-driven, the long-wheel-base (LWB), often incorporating a central divider with power window, by a chauffeur.
The forerunner of the modern Maybach marque, the 600 "Grosser Mercedes" ("Grand Mercedes") succeeded the Type 300 "Adenauer" as the company's flagship and most expensive model. Positioned well above the 300-series Mercedes-Benz W112. Its few competitors included certain models of Rolls-Royce and Bentley, the Cadillac Fleetwood 75, stretched Lincoln Continental Lehmann-Peterson, and the Chrysler Imperial Crown Ghia.
The 600 marked the last super-luxury model the brand produced in an unbroken line with its demise in 1981 since the model 60 hp Simplex from 1903. The company would return to this segment some 20 years later with the Maybach 57/62, however these cars ultimately failed to captivate customers in the same way as their British rivals therefore Daimler killed the Maybach brand in 2012 and would not return to this segment. The current Mercedes flagship is the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, which occupies a considerably lower price bracket and is not a successor to the 600 Grand and earlier models, however it is seen as a spiritual successor as it is the first luxury Mercedes since the 600 to feature some bespoke design touches not available on the standard S Class.
Video Mercedes-Benz 600
History
Production began in 1964 and continued through to 1981. During this time, production totalled 2,677 units, comprising 2,190 Saloons, 304 Pullmans, 124 6-door Pullmans and 59 Landaulets.
Maps Mercedes-Benz 600
Models
The 600 came in two main variants:
- A short wheelbase 4-door sedan, available with a power divider window separating the front seats from the rear bench seat, although most were built without this feature.
- A long wheelbase 4-door Pullman limousine (with two additional rear-facing seats separated from the driver compartment by a power divider window, of which 304 were built), and a 6-door limousine (with two forward-facing jump-seats at the middle two doors and a rear bench-seat).
A number of the Pullman limousines were made as landaulets, with a convertible top over the rear passenger compartment. These were notably used by the Pope and the German government, as during the 1965 state visit of Queen Elizabeth II. Production of this model ended in 1980.
Mercedes also made two coupés, one as a gift for retiring long-time Mercedes chief designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, and the other to one Fritz Nallinger. These cars had a wheelbase 22 cm (8.6 inches) shorter than the SWB sedan. A third was much later constructed by 600 experts and restorers Karl Middelhauve & Associates of Wausau, Wisconsin from a SWB sedan.
Karl Middelhauve has also created a pair of matching Chevrolet El Camino-style coupes from 600 SWB sedans. One of them has a Vortech supercharger. Some purists question the reason for modifying a classic such as an original 600 into a modified vehicle.
A single example of a SWB 4-door landaulet, combining the handling of a short-wheelbase with the qualities of a landaulet, was built by Mercedes in 1967 for former racing driver Count von Berckheim.
Mechanical
The 600's great size, weight, and numerous hydraulically driven amenities required more power than Mercedes' largest engine at that time, the 3-litre 6-cylinder M189, could produce. A new V8 with more than twice the capacity was developed, the 6.3 L M100. It featured single overhead camshafts (SOHC) and Bosch mechanical fuel injection. It developed 300 Hp, however the total usable output was 250 Hp as 50 Hp was used to power the hydraulic convenience system.
The 600's complex 150-bar (2,176 psi) hydraulic pressure system powered the automobile's windows, seats, sun-roof, boot lid, and automatically closing doors. Adjustable air suspension delivered excellent ride quality and sure handling over any road surface.
In 1967 the M-100 engine and hydraulics were fitted to the much smaller but still substantial 300SEL 6.3, creating the world's fastest four-door sedan. Upon the introduction of the W116 chassis, a larger 6.9 liter version of M-100 was installed in the Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9.
Notable owners
Famous owners of the Mercedes-Benz 600 have included the following people.
Celebrities and tycoons
- Coco Chanel
- Hugh Hefner
- Elizabeth Taylor
- John Lennon
- George Harrison
- Karen Carpenter
- Jay Kay
- Aristotle Onassis
- Jack Nicholson
- Simon Spies
- Ronnie Wood
- Bob Jane
- Frank Packer
- Elvis Presley
- Rowan Atkinson
- Jay Leno, who had his 600 (a 1972 SWB) fitted with a supercharger by Karl Middelhauve and Associates, making it the only 600 Kompressor in existence
- Jeremy Clarkson, whose 1973 600 was featured in the Top Gear Challenge "Mercedes-Benz 600 vs Rolls-Royce Corniche Coupé challenge", when it was pitted against James May's 1972 Rolls-Royce Corniche, eventually winning the challenge.
Political leaders and royalty
- His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
- The Pope
- King Khalid of Saudi Arabia
- Park Chung-hee
- Josip Broz Tito, 1971 Pullman landaulet
- Nicolae Ceau?escu
- Pol Pot
- President of Bangladesh
- Enver Hoxha
- François "Papa Doc" Duvalier
- Jean-Bédel Bokassa
- Emperor Hirohito,
- F. W. de Klerk
- Leonid Brezhnev
- Idi Amin
- Fidel Castro
- Robert Mugabe,
- Jomo Kenyatta
- Daniel Moi
- Ferdinand Marcos, who owned four, including a landaulet, a 1981 bulletproof model and a six-door version
- Kim Il-sung
- Kim Jong-il
- Kim Jong-un; the North Koreans have also owned a landaulet (both seen in the 65th anniversary parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2010)
- Saddam Hussein, who owned a long-roof landaulet that was recovered after the fall of Baghdad and is today owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles
- Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and the royal court, who owned multiple 600 models including 3 landaulet models and 18 other for national gaurd
- Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary leader
- Chen Yi, former Chinese Foreign Minister
- Deng Xiaoping
- Deng Yingchao, wife of Zhou Enlai, the first Chinese Premier
- Norodom Sihanouk, former King of Cambodia
all used the 600. The first Senegalese regime (1960-1980) under president Léopold Sédar Senghor had three 600s, a short wheel base, a long wheel base, and a Landaulet, later replaced by the W126-based Carat Limousine.
The first President of Indonesia, Sukarno, also owned the 600 SWB.
President Anastasio Somoza Debayle of Nicaragua bought a SWB for his wife Hope Portocarrero from the first production run.
Religious leader Guru Maharaj Ji owned one, as did Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar, a LWB six-door 600. destroyed in an attack on Escobar in 1988 in Medellín.
In popular culture
In cinema, the Mercedes 600 was featured in several James Bond films, most notably as transport of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever. In Octopussy, the villain Kamal Khan is seen leaving Sotheby's London auction house in a 600 Pullman.
In television, a 600 was used by fictional Channing/Gioberti family matriarch Angela Channing in the American television series Falcon Crest. Images of the car driving from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Falcon Crest vineyard were featured in the opening credits of the first four seasons. It was also prominently featured in the television show Friday the 13th.
In popular political context, the 600 has long been associated with totalitarianism, dictatorships and to a lesser extent Communism due to its use by dictators, authoritarian rulers, and Communist/socialist leaders during the 1960s and 1970s. This is similar to how its predecessor, the 770, was associated with Axis leaders.
Technical data
References
External links
- Mercedes-Benz 600 - historical information at Daimler.com
- The International M-100 Group (with a car registry by serial number)
- Photos of the 1965 papal landaulet at Conceptcarz.com
- Presentation of the 600 SWB at Amelia Island, Florida - video
- Jay Leno's Garage - 1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 - video
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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