Background
The W126 Mercedes S-Class range was available to the public for a 14-year period between 1979 and 1992, a relatively long production run at the time but one that speaks volumes as to the correctness of the car’s original design and engineering.
The second model range to bear the S-Class designation, the W126 was originally offered as a three-box saloon with either a straight-six or a V8 petrol engine, or a turbocharged diesel. The C126, the two-door coupe version, was introduced in 1981, and additional engine options were made available throughout its life.
The model name still reflected the engine capacity back then (I know; didn’t that make life simpler?), which means that the 560 SEC you are looking at here is fitted with the 5.6-litre V8 engine. When new it delivered 275bhp and 317lb.ft of torque - giving a 0-62mph time of 7.2 seconds (not bad for a big car of that time) and on to a top speed of 150mph.
The reason it is so relatively heavy for the period is because the W126 S-Class is stuffed full of early adopter safety equipment including an optional driver’s airbag (available from 1981), passenger’s airbag (from 1987), traction control (1987), anti-lock brakes (optional until 1985, standard thereafter) plus seat-belt tensioning, crumple zones, and fluted tail lights (which cleverly allowed the car to be seen from the rear even when it was dirty) from the very beginning.
A topographical sensor on the automatic gearbox pre-empted the GPS-linked gearbox that wowed us on the Rolls-Royce Wraith by several decades; self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension adapted from Citroen was also offered, as was cruise control.
The S-Class has always been a luxurious car too, with eight-way, heated front seats and powered and heated rear seats making an appearance on the options list, plus a proper climate control system and an exterior temperature gauge, both of which we might take for granted now but were ground-breaking innovations at the time.
The 560 SEC was the best of the bunch, it was Mercedes’ most expensive and most powerful production car at the time, and first choice of company directors, millionaires, football managers and racing drivers - Hunt, Senna and Mansell all drove an SEC. This is the car the elite chose over the less subtle Rolls-Royce.
