The definitive ‘Grosser’ limousine: Mercedes-Benz 600
By Straight-Six, published on 13 August 2010
Goddamn, there’s something tremendously uplifting about being driven somewhere in a large limo. That your legs usually end up being splayed out as you ride in the leather-trimmed rear seat is no coincidence: there’s something primal and supremely decadent about it all.
The US serves up this experience as often as a tasty cheese-burger, while Europe has simply ensured its taxis are usually luxury sedans of note (Mercs, for the most part, and more recently the Skoda Superb…). Until now, your dear editors have focused on design or performance elements, or both, in the cars we think worthy of your attention. While Straight-Six veers toward the harder and the purer of the sporting breed, good ol soft-slippers – The Prodigal Fool – is constantly sniffing out the ultimate performance sedan. Usually an Audi. Always an understeerer. But that’s another story.
That’s all well and good, but with little Sixes and Fool in tow and our recent illuminating and inspiring exposure to vintage watches in the backs of our mind, it was only a question of time before we turned to a cocktail of the both: classic limousines.
Truth be told, we’ve known for a while now which one car that stands head and shoulders above the rest as the finest and most Prodigal of the breed: the Mercedes-Benz 600.
From the fact that Jay Kay owns one all the way to its place as the limousine of choice for movie stars, royalty and, uh, dictators from 1963 all the way to its production end in 1982, the 600 never failed to deliver the two things so essential to a true limousine: presence and tailored luxury.
You could order yours in two-, four- and six-door versions. Five/six or seven-eight seats were on offer along with TVs, bars, armour-plating. The Landaulet version came with a soft top for rear seat fascists who liked to wave at their adoring citizens. All of this was pulled by an indefatigable 6.3-litre V8 and perfectly leveled out by a driver-adjustable, self-leveling air suspension.
We could tell you they run from £45,000 all the way to £800,000, but aside from the initial sticker price, it’s the paramount need for regular maintenance that makes all the difference. And like vintage watches, this don’t come cheap. Example? The pump for the hydraulic system costs £20k to replace…
It’s as relevant as a classic tailored vintage suit and has simply unbelievable presence in any iteration or colour. And that will still be the case 50 years from now. Cause if the Mercedes-Benz 600 is good enough for a horny devil like Mr. Nicholson in ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, there’s every reason it deserves to be the Prodigal classic limousine of choice.
The definitive ‘Grosser’ limousine: Mercedes-Benz 600
Goddamn, there’s something tremendously uplifting about being driven somewhere in a large limo. That your legs usually end up being splayed out as you ride in the leather-trimmed rear seat is no coincidence: there’s something primal and supremely decadent about it all. The US serves up this experience as often as a tasty cheese-burger, while [...]
Frank
16 August 2010
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