My dad used to have one of these back in about 1971-1972. Before this car, he used to have a Pontiac Bonneville, and when he told us (the family) that he was planning to buy a Mercedes, all of us kids (4 of us) were very disappointed. That feeling changed fast when our dad took us on our first ride. The kick-down was extreme. Eventually, I got used to this fast car... At that time, traffic safety wasn't a big deal, so my dad used to let me sit between the front seets and have my left foot on the gas pedal. (Well, not in residential areas). Being spoiled with this "fastest sedan in the world at the time", it was awkward for me one day, when I went riding a friends dad's car. A brand new Volvo 142. This guy, the dad, was so proud of his new car, so he wanted to impress with a kick-down. Being 'bout ten, I wasn't so politically correct. He put the pedal to the metal and then asked me "How about that?"... I replied "How about what?". Unintentionally I really hurt that guys feelings. Eventually, my dad traded this 6.3 to a MB 450SEL, which was heavier and also had a weaker engine. A big loss IMO.
Where is the S600L? 2002´s correpondent to the 6.3. MB said that the 6.3 made 0-100 in 6,5 seconds and that the top speed was 220 kph. Most motor periodical tests had much lower figures. My 2020 little B-class 250e makes 0-100 in 6.8 seconds and has a top speed of 235 kmh according to MB. If you cut off half of the trunk of the 300SEL, the inner and outer dimensions of the W109 are almost identical to my little B-Class. By american standards the W109 was a compact car. Time changes, and even in 1969 the 6.3 was no dragster. Most Chevrolets and Fords would easily shut the 6.3 down.
@@matsflodin4943 keep lying to yourself ultranationalist goofball. First of all w109 wasnt compact by any standards in America, it was a classified land yacht that was made before all the garbage american cars with useless 10 feet overhangs. 2nd of all, it was the fucking fastest sedan even when compared to the utter garbage lincoln and cadillacs with sub 9 liter engines. 3rd of all no chevy or ford was doing times like the 6.3 back then, not even quad barrel carb dodges. Keep lying to yourself brainless mongolian goat herder.
@@S70AMG Let´s stay with facts. Already in 1960 a standard full-size Ford Fairlane 360 hp 352 made 7.9 seconds 0-60 mph (without radial tires) and had a top speed of 152 mph at Ford´s Dearborn test circuit.. Muscle versions of full size cars had similar and better figures all through the 1960´s and they could with small changes even compete in NASCAR. Most regular street Impalas and Galaxies had 300+ horsepower. It all got even worse towards the later part of the 60´s when small Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, Chargers, Challengers etc. came in, most of them with big V8´s. You cannot seriously believe that a 6.3 would stand a chance against a 1969 Mustang Boss 429 or a compact Chevy II Nova SS 350/396 of which about 20.000 were sold only in 1969. I am born 1950 and have experienced the muscle car days that were ended in 1971 by the insurance companies. The 6.3 which was about the same size as the 1969 compact Chevy II looked like a miniature along side all truly full size cars. It´s performance was almost exactly the the same as a 1985 MB W126 280SE i owned, more modern and efficient, with a top speed of 220 kmph and 0-100 kmph in about 8-9 seconds, which was the true figure also for the 6.3. Its reputaion is based on being much faster than most Europeans cars of the day. In America it was a status car with high quality. Few people would race with it in the streets. I like Mecedes, but I also like facts more than nostalgic dreams. The reason Mecedes for once lied about the 0-100 performance was that the new modern 3.5 V8 engine which appeared a little later had nearly the same performance as the 6.3 in the W109. The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport in 1971 tested a 320 hp AMG version of the W 109 6.3 and came up with a 0-100 figure of 7.2! End of story.
Thanks for the verification. I recall Mercedes making that announcement in 1970 that the car was capable of 153 MPH. When I owned my 6.3 in 1977 I could get 90 MPH in second gear, it was lightning fast, and it had fabulous brakes, a superb motor vehicle.
Top speed of these cars was 134 mph, rpm limited. They ran out of engine speed. The 1/4 mile time sometimes is shown as 14 seconds, but it was mid 15's. Its only 250 hp and 4 sp auto.
@@luciadatri2373 Yes, but it is a low rpm engine. You could buy a Chrysler 300 in 1968 with the TNT 440 option with about half the money or less. It would be about as fast in acceleration, and a bit more top speed. If you specified a 2.94 or 2.76 gear ratio, it would be a lot faster in top speed than the Benz. The car itself is much bigger and roomier. A lot easier to repair and maintain.
@@demetridar506 Are you seriously comparing a Chrysler with a Mercedes? What year did Chrysler (or any other US car) get rid of the horse cart chassis and rear cart leaf springs?
This from wiki: The Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 is a luxury car built by Mercedes Benz from 1968 to 1972. 6.3 litre V8 with Bosch fuel injection, 250 PS (184 kW; 247 hp), 300 HP SAE Performance 0-62 mph (100 km/h): 5.7 seconds 0-100 mph (160 km/h) : 14.6 seconds Standing 1/4 mile (~400 m) : 14.2 seconds Top Speed : 229 km/h (142.3 mph)† † Factory figures
Nice to see that all old mercedes auto transmissions shift way to early. Always gotta go through the gears manually when merging onto the autobahn in my w126 280s
I owned a 300 SEL 6.3 in 1976 when I lived in the U.K. that was one fast car...in 1970 Mercedes claimed the car to be the fastest 4 door production car in the world at 153 MPH.. the 1969.Maserati Qutraporte was faster but perhaps that was not considered a production car......I drove one....
The engine in the newer car is a beast of an engine, probably the toughest diesel built! There is a company in the UK who regularly tune them up to 680BHP & export them all over the world. Fantastic engines!!
Actually, I used (as the former owner) 1% of ATF-oil in the fuel. But certainly not 2-stroke oil! It cloggs up the highly sensitive injectors, and more important, it DOES NOT lubricate the MFP, where as ATF oil does! To put a finer point on it; ATF oil is (partly) a detergent for the newer fuels that tend to varnish up when the car isn't used very often. 2-stroke oil is NOT up to that task. So please DO NOT add 2-stroke oil to fuel passing through a MFP but use ATF oil instead.
Actually the 137mph number seems about pretty dead on. That's 220kph. Taking into account some power loss due to US emissions regulations, that could very well be. The actual claimed top speed was 229kph/140some mph.
No No a well known Gernan Mercedes Benz engineer (developing the modern CDi Taxi Diesel engines) tells us Two Stroke oil API TC TYpe is the best you can do. Bosch Germany Koller and Schwemmer tells us here allways use the API TC two stroke oil in older petrol cars too, especial when using modern ethanolized fuels in old fuel injections. The do not recommend ATF at all.
the 6.3 does not rev to red line or even close in 1-2 ,2-3 shift .their actually low 15 sec.1/4 mile cars in stock form.,with very tall highway gears.tops out at 137.mph .
Are you saying sir, that that V6 Common-rail diesel (which is a highly complex engine where there are millions of bits where something can go wrong) is more reliable than that bomb-proof M100 engine? Diesel engines are generally more reliable than Petrol ones, but not in this case...
never forget, allways add 1% two stroke oil to the fuel, todays fuel destroys the old injection of the vintage cars, in Germany MERCEDES and BOSCH suggest allways add some little two stroke oil to the fuel in old cars (Diesel AND benzine cars!)
The Automatic Gear box of the 6.3. shifts much to early. Correctly tuned the 6.3. is much much faster than the boring Diesel! 300 SEL 6.3 = 6.4s 0/100kmh, 320 CDI = 8.8s 0/100kmh
Hey halo ik had gezien dat jullie van belgie zijn moesten jullie mercedes Liefhebbers zijn en nog een mooie benz in u bezit heeft dan bent u altijd welkom op 2 september in damme moerkerke mercedes mijn passie de 5de editie vorig jaar 164 mercedessen bijeen is met rondrit meer info op facebook mercedes mijn passie
even then the 300 SEL would be faster, even the 5 litre V8 S500 wouldn't pull away from it (both 0-100 in 6.5 sec.) . From the 220 series, you have to have an S55 AMG to be faster than this 30 year older W109, pretty impressive.
@@OkOk-hl7ly Ja ich kenne die Autos 6.3er oder 6.9er das sind richtig geile Autos kann man nix sagen war ja eher auch mehr Spass von mir mit kack Benz.es ging nur darum da hier die Ältere Generation von uns die Autos in den 80er alle gehabt haben und man der Meinung heute halt noch ist das es nix schnelleres gibt!aber da wurden die halt eines besseren belehrt das es halt mit dem E30 nicht zu spassen ist.aber der 6.3 ist schon ein Geschoss manche wurden schon mit 285ps und mehr gemessen ist halt ein Alter Dinosaurier auf speed😂
Na klar, beides s-Klassen nur mit 30 Jahren dazwischen, ein Vergleich zwischen Alt(geil) und neu(nicht so geil). Beide werden wohl auch um die 250ps Marke haben.
