1985 Mercedes Brabus 1000 SEL: When 500 Was Simply Not Enough

There aren’t many Mercedes 1000SELs out there offered for sale, so when one pops up in our radar, we feel obligated to spread the word.

As a true child of the ‘80s, the Mercedes 1000SEL is a child of tuning companies that offered 500SEL and 560SEL owners the chance to update their cars to Rolls Royce levels of luxury. Whether the final outcome was twice as good in order to justify the new badge is debatable, but you can’t ignore the charm (or vanity) that comes with it.

This blacked-out examples comes from 1985 and is based on a W126 500SEL. The car was purchased new in Europe and immediately went to Brabus to receive its 1000SEL credentials, which in this case -and unlike some of the most extreme 1000SELs out there- appear to include a range of aesthetic mods only.

The exterior features more aggressive Euro-spec bumpers front and rear with matching side sills, a set of 16-inch BBS staggered black alloys with polished tips and a blacked-out front grille and emblems.

The windows are of course tinted while the interior is dressed in black leather. A period-correct aftermarket steering wheel along with a Brabus speedometer face that reads up to 200mph (factory models showed 160mph) appear to be the main modifications here. The odometer reads a little over 196k miles.

Power comes from Mercedes’ 5.0-liter M117 V8 engine that’s paired with a four-speed automatic transmission. The seller doesn’t mention any upgrades to the powertrain, which produced 227hp (231PS) and 298lb-ft (405Nm) of torque when new.

The car is offered with a Carfax report, service records from new and a clean Illinois title, that describes it as a Mercedes 1000, on Bring A Trailer.