W116.org Website Review

280s : 280se : 280sel : 300sd : 350se : 350sel : 450se : 450sel : 450sel 6.9 a completely newly developed luxury car was presented to the public in september 1972. the mercedes-benz s-clas* with internal designation initial models consisted of the 280s and 280se with 2.8 l inline-six engines and 350se with a 3.5 l v8 engine. six months later, the 4.5 l v8 engine was introduced wearing the 450se and 450sel badges, the latter with a 100 mm longer wheel base benefiting the rear pas*engers. from november 1973 the long wheel-base version was also available as the 350sel, and in april 1974 also as the 280sel. in may 1975 the 450sel 6.9 was presented as the new top model of the range and as the legitimate successor to 300sel 6.3. the powerful 6.9 l v8 engine, developed from the 6.3 l, achieved 210 kw and a maximum torque of 550 nm. a hydropneumatic suspension with level control system guaranteed the highest driving comfort. further equipment standard on the top model included central locking system, the north american markets saw the introduction of the 300sd model in may 1978, the first time a diesel engine had been used in a luxury vehicle. the 3.0 l 5 cylinder, which had proven so well in the types 240d 3.0 and 300d, was fitted with a turbocharger for better performance to handle the larger car. the development of this unusual s-clas* variant had been started with the goal to fulfil the lower the w126 series was presented at the frankfurt motor show in september 1979 as the successor of the first s-clas* range. w116 production stopped between april and september 1980, depending on the type. the last car that pas*ed the final-as*embly inspection at the plant in sindelfingen was a 300sd. a total of 473,035 w116 were built over eight years. it was the first modern-style car from stuttgart, already with horizontal road lights installation instead of the clas*ic vertical clusters. brightest point, however, was the performance coming from the new 4.5 v8 with fuel injection and well over 200 hp; a figure