These days if you want a top-of-the-line luxury limousine, Mercedes will gladly hook you up with a Maybach S-Class. But by the 1960s, the Maybach brand had fallen into obscurity, and wouldn’t be revived for several more decades. In between, this was the very top of the line, and this splendid example is going up for auction.
What you’re looking at here is a 1968 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman. Notoriously remembered as a favorite among third-world dictators, the 600 was a model that sat above what would later become the S-Class, and remained in production from 1963 all the way through 1981.
Over the course of those three decades, Daimler only made 2,677 of them. The vast majority were (relatively) short-wheelbase models. Only 428 were made in stretched form, of those 304 fitted with four doors (instead of six). That makes this four-door, long-wheelbase Pullman something of a rare (and large) bird indeed.
Weighing in at a massive 7,350 pounds even in shorter wheelbase, it was considerably heavier even than today’s extended-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Phantom. So Mercedes developed a 6.3-liter V8 good for 245 horsepower to help it along, an air suspension to keep it riding smooth, and a high-pressure hydraulic system to make it all manageable.
This particular example features a black exterior and beige interior, complete with cherrywood back-seat console housing a Sony television and Panasonic stereo.
It’s going up for auction in Arizona as part of the RM Sotheby’s sale on January 19-20, where anyone who has ever dreamed of installing himself as president for life over some obscure country with some vital national resource will want to place a bid. Just bring your tiny flags of choice along to mount from the front fenders.
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