Classic Car | The 1971 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 is flawless | Driving.ca 

Hey Clayton, thanks for the cool driving review. Just to add a couple of Notes … On the acceleration it sounds like you may have missed out a little. One needs to really stomp on the accelerator to have the transmission kick down. From a standing start it is fast but by default begins in second gear. If you really stomp on the accelerator and push down the microswitch below the pedal it kicks off in first and it will light up the wheels and chirp to second and third. Also using the stick to shift is quite useful too. The transmission to engine coupling is via fluid flywheel not torque converter so the engine can be braked by changing down. Additionally, you can roll start the car even though it has an automatic transmission. The EU spec M100 6.3 engine had a higher CR so a little more power and torque, that is than USA delivered versions. At Lacuna Seca, when the USA cars were first presented they clocked sub 6 sec to 60 mph. The Mercedes Benz 0-60 mph official times back in the day were with driver and passenger and luggage. On the brakes, most build versions had ventilated disk brakes both front and back. Cheers !

Best or nothing. Talk about quality. Amazing.

My sister bought me my first Mercedes Benz in 1994. It was a 1975 450 SEL. A one owner car, owned by a Judge. I loved that car. It was a dream to drive.

This my same exact car... 1971 MB 6.3, Tobacco Brown, Cognac interior. I bought it from a guy in Beverly Hills. It had been sitting for a few years. These great guys in Country Valley performed the mechanical and I had it repainted with the original paint which they had to get in Arizona...because it was illegal in California for some reason. They took it to L.A. and had the interior completely redone using the last of the German wool carpet including the seats and door panels. I had new seat belts. It was color sanded and I was going to bring it home to North Carolina when a Disney executive saw it and wanted it really bad. What the hell... I sold it. Mistake! I got a 71 3.5 and restored it... Put it on BaT and two guys got into a bidding war...sold it. Now I have a 71 280S... guess I'll keep this one....for awhile.

mercedes cars were way ahead of all other cars

You’re spot on with this car. Although the transmission was totally acceptable at the time, it is in my mind the weak link in today’s world. Even with the 2.82 gears the 6.3 runs out of revs, limiting the top speed. Max torque at 2.500 rpm translates to about 62 mp/h and peak power at 100 mp/h are far from ideal. Driving a 6.3 retrofitted with a modern six-speed manual on German b-roads and Autobahns is an amazing experience. Naturally, a manual is not in character, but demonstrates the limitations of narrow gear spreads. I’m contemplating fitting Merceds’ five-speed automatic transmission 722.6 with its .83 overdrive fifth gear and converter lock-up into my 1970 specimen. Unfortunately not too many of these fascinating cars have survived. Their power and speed were legendary, but once in the hands of second and third owners, who often lagged with the ultra expensive maintenance, they frequently didn’t last long. Last year a friend bought an accident free 6.3 shell with a few bits left in it. 0ne of the last cars built in 1972, it was registered until 1979 and never again. The story about how the 6.3 came to be is also quite interesting and is the result of a personal after hours project of one Merceds development engineer named Erich Waxenberger. It’s not well known but documented that Mercedes built a single 280SL (W113) with the 6.3 liter M100.

I drive in 91 Mercedes SEC for 23 years. I love the muscle cars, but I'm reminded of a quote by Carol Shelby.. "Great engines..... Can't steer, Can't stop." Would love to ride in this Mercedes !

When Mercedes was Mercedes.. When you could tell a Mercedes from 2 miles away... Now you have to come close and look at the star...

Me Likey!... Alot ❤

Kerb weight is 1765kg. Wheelbase is 2865mm, Power is 184Kw , Torque 588Nm at 3000rpm . 0-100km/h in 6.5 sec . Don't know why anywhere still uses Miles, feet, inches etc, . A bit behind the times

Amazing car which deserves a more competent driver with skills and deeper understanding of what this sedan is really capable of.

I have a 114 coupe with a 5.0 V8....it's awesome

Hi from Sydney, Australia. I'd say Mercedes Benz was 3rd in line to the title Luxury Sports Car, or Sports Luxury car as Jaguar in 1961 beat them by near a decade with the 265hp 3.8 litre Jaguar MK10, the series 2 version was released in late1964 with the better 4.2 litre engine which had more easy torque, re vamped steering and brakes. The second such car was the series one Maserati Quattroporte shown in 1963 as a new model for 1964, again well before the Mercedes , and the Maser' Quat' series 1A has well more power than the Merc, I went to school with the Italian High Commissioners son, they had two, a series 1a & a series 1B, and there's no way our 6.3 Merc' would ever beat Marco's folks cars in any comparison. Handling, braking, luxury, or power, period. Should you buy the "supreme" version of Jaguar with the ultra-high output bronze head, the heavy duty suspension and Koni gas shocks, it will leave the Merc for DEAD. I'm now almost 70 years old my mum and dad owned one of each new in 1971, the last of the line for both species. Due to unreliability, faults, warranty claims 2 engines in a year due to overheating the Mercedes was dumped back on MB-Aust's doorstep for a full refund after 15months and a dept' of consumer affairs court case, meanwhile 53 years later the Jaguar is still giving us sterling service as it has done from 1971, it's my car now as both my parents have passed away. Push the Merc' really hard in a double "s" bend and as the weird ancient swing axles attempt to realign themselves, prepare yourself for the off-road trip that is just about to ensue. Whereas the Jaguars way, way superior IRS keeps the rear tyres PERFECTLY FLAT on the road surface ALL the time, no pitch, no roll, no yaw. I learned to drive in both the Merc was almost dangerous in windy multi bend roads and where our weekender house was on the Pittwater side of the northern beaches of Sydney, you had near 20miles of such roads. The big Jag attacked the bends with ease gripped like a leech in human flesh, the Merc needed real care otherwise when the rear lifted and the swing axles left just 1/3 of the rear tyres on the road , and the inner wheel on a bend was left hanging at an acute angle just a slight overindulgence on the accelerator would see it in the trees, same with all swing axles cars , as Ralph Nader said , unsafe at any speed. Consider this, the Jaguar IRS unit is recycled and used in most hotrods, and near every Shelby Cobra kit car, but the Merc' rear end is unwanted for any other vehicle -period. Re-the engines, in Sydney Jaguar XK engines are marinized for use in powerful custom speed boats on the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system, the only marine use for the Merc' 6.3 v8 is perhaps as an anchor weight, truly unwanted. I went with a friend to a specialist Merc' wrecker at Rydalmere in Sydney , they had several Merc 600's in a very sad state, plus some 300SEL 6.3's , I asked the owner what happened to all their engines, he stated no one wanted them at all, so they were sold for the dead weight of metal, that people occasionally want trim or body parts, but NEVER an engine .

Is this car for sale?

Mercedes would not have approved-but you could have driven Cal. Highway 1 WAY more aggressively & that Benz would have laughed at it. 2 tons-and it would have acted as if were on rails. That particular car is a US spec.- in Europe-the 300 SEL 6.3 could be had with a 5 speed manual-if me memory serves me correctly. US spec-the 4 speed auto only. No matter-what a magnificent example of Mercedes tech. It would blow the doors off of most of Detroit big blocks of the era. As my Father taught me many moons ago-"son-there ain't NO substitute for cubic inches".

They don't make them like that anymore !

This car is so airy. Compared American cars of the same era where theyre huge outside but so Claustrophobic inside