1985 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL

Description

This is it, the ultimate luxury sedan of the 1980s. Seen in movies, on TV, and any time you needed to have someone look like a seriously big shot, you used a carlike this 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL. The long-wheelbase (that's the "L") version was the Mercedes-Benz flagship and even though it's now 30 years old, this imposing sedan shows you that these were truly engineered like no other car in the world.

Still wearing its factory-applied Cabernet Red Metallic paint, this S-Class exudes quality from every surface. Sure there are a few signs of age, but for your $52,000 (remember, these are 1985 dollars) you got one heck of an impressive finish. It's still shiny and rich-looking, and aside from some light checking it has responded incredibly well to a recent professional cut and buff. There's no evidence of major issues under the surface, either now or in the past, and the fit and finish of these cars is legendary for a good reason. All four doors close with a well-damped "Whomp," and every single moving part feels like it's part of a well-oiled mechanism. The gray lower cladding makes the car look even longer than it is and helps blend the big US-spec bumpers into the overall look. The grille up front is bright chrome and should look familiar to, well, just about everyone, and there's just enough shiny trim to add an upscale look without being pretentious.

Mercedes-Benz called the tan leather interior "Champignon Mushroom," but whatever the name, it looks fantastic. In an era where many Mercedes models were almost austere inside, the supple hides and supportive bucket seats make it all-day comfortable and quite bright and airy inside. The burled wood insert on the dash and center console is real wood and definitely warms things up, and everything you can imagine was standard: climate control, power windows, locks, and seats, a sunroof, and a Becker Grand Prix AM/FM/cassette stereo system. 1985 was also the first year for a driver's side airbag, which is familiar today but was genuinely cutting-edge tech in 1985 and eliminated those annoying motorized seat belts that so many other brands were still using. It's all beautifully preserved, suggesting that the 69,542 miles it has covered were easy ones. The rear seats offer limousine-like accommodations for two and the trunk is massive, perfect for a cross-continent road trip.

Mercedes-Benz's 5.0 liter SOHC V8 engine delivers the kind of power that's easy to under-estimate. It's the quintessential luxury car powerplant, smooth, unobtrusive, but very effective. It's one of the most robust machines to come out of Stuttgart, from a time when engineers ruled the company, and it's been properly maintained all its life. Under the hood there's zero evidence that this car has ever lived in a winter climate and it really is clean, clean, clean! The 4-speed automatic transmission provides effortless high-speed cruising, and while the transmission starts in 2nd gear in most cases, a sharp prod of the accelerator pedal makes this big sedan rear up and blast off like a muscle car. The all-independent suspension and 4-wheel disc brakes are supremely competent under most circumstances, allowing all 5000 pounds of luxury sedan to hustle along with aplomb without jostling passengers. Familiar Mercedes-Benz "pie crust" alloy wheels are fitted with 205/70/14 Michelin radials for a very correct look and feel.

This is a shocking amount of luxury, performance, and prestige for relative pocket change, and we don't think you'll find many S-Class sedans of this vintage so well preserved as this. Call today!