Mercedes Benz 600 Grosser | SOLD

Unique & Rare. This Mercedes Benz 600 Grosser is in an unbelievable original condition!Perhaps one of the best and most original Mercedes-Benz 600 in Hong Kong. A true collectors item!

The Mercedes-Benz 600, Mercedes internally referred to as W100, was the Daimler-Benz state and representative coach in the 1960s and 1970s. The origins of the 600s are in the mid-1950s. Fritz Nallinger, leading developer of Daimler-Benz, carried out the development of a vehicle based on what was technically feasible. So the car got, among others, air suspension, automatic transmission, power steering and power brakes. The developers also considered a model with an extended wheelbase. It soon became apparent that an economic success with this car would hardly be possible, as the development costs per car would be 37,000 Mark, taking into account the projected deliveries - the automobile in 1964 did cost 56,500 Mark. The Mercedes 600 during its entire life was a loss-making business, that Daimler-Benz mainly did for image reasons.

The series debuted at the IAA in Frankfurt in September 1963. Just two weeks before the 600 had been introduced to ten expert journalists around the world. The "Grand Mercedes" was very well received by the public. The limousine encompassed much of what was technically possible at that time, and even decades later is not self-evident in today's vehicles. Examples are: air suspension, comprehensive hydraulic servo system (so-called "comfort hydraulics"), electrically controlled heating and ventilation system, air conditioning, hydraulically adjustable front seats, hydraulically adjustable rear bench, hydraulic windows and also hydraulically operated sunroofs (for the long wheelbase version also a rear sunroof could be ordered). Noteworthy was the silent hydraulics when compared with conventional electric motors, but quickly lost its power with the engine off. For the reputation of Mercedes-Benz, the 600 was essential.

The Mercedes-Benz 600 "Grand Mercedes" was built between 1964 to 1981. In total 2,677 vehicles in different wheelbases and body configurations. Of these, only 124 units (20 RHD) of 6-door Pullman limousine version. The original price of the car on offer was about 110,000, - DM in 1972, including options.

Notable owners of Mercedes 600

Famous owners of the 600 have included the Pope and celebrities such as 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 and Jeremy Clarkson.

In cinema the Mercedes 600 was featured in the James Bond films, most notably as transport of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever. Kamal Khan is also seen leaving Sotheby's in a 600 in Octopussy. In television, a Mercedes Benz 600 limousine 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.

Notable heads of state included Park Chung-hee, Josip Broz Tito, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Pol Pot, Enver Hoxha, Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier, Leonid Brezhnev, Ferdinand Marcos (who owned four, including a Landaulet, a 1981 bulletproof and a six-door version.), Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il also owned a Landaulet (both seen in the 65th anniversary parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2010), and Sadaam Hussein, who owned a long roof landaulet that was recovered after the fall of Baghdad today owned by the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the royal court owned multiple 600 models. Former Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, wife of the first Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai - Deng Yingchao, and the former King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk, all used the 600. The first Senegalese regime (1960–1980) under president Leopold Sedar Senghor had three 600s, a short wheel base, a long wheel base, and a Landaulet, later replaced by the W126 based Carat Limousine. 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 Medellin.