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 200 mph
(factory models showed 160 mph) 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 227 hp and 405 Nm 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.
