Dorotheum auction house, the largest auction house in Central and Eastern Europe, is selling a rare Mercedes 500 E AMG 6.0. The estimated price for the auction that ends on July 2, 2022, is between 120,000 and 160,000 euros.
Almost a year ago we had the chance to drive a Mercedes E60 AMG, of which only 148 were built. You can read here the full review of the Mercedes E60 AMG. But in this article, the story is about the Mercedes 500E AMG 6.0. What is the connection between them? Let’s explain in detail.
The story is well-known. Mercedes commissioned Porsche in 1988 to build a sporty Mercedes E-Class equipped with a 5-liter V8 engine from the SL R129 that develops 326 HP and 480 Nm (353 lb ft) (30 Nm more than the SL). Initially, Porsche should have mounted only the engine, suspension and exhaust in the old Red Brick Reutter building from Zuffenhausen where the Porsche 356 and 911 had been produced over the years.
But the initial plans simply did not function because the Mercedes 500 E (the name was changed to the E 500 after the facelift in 1994) has wider wings and the car did not fit on the production line in Sindelfingen.
This is why the production process has become very complicated. Mercedes delivered the body parts from Sindelfingen to Zuffenhausen. Porsche assembled them together with new parts, such as the wider wings, of its own production. Then the bodies returned to Sindelfingen, where they were painted. And then they hit the road again, from Sindelfingen to Zuffenhausen, for the mounting of the engine with the auxiliary systems, the exhaust and the suspension.
Despite the enormous power for a limo of those times, the power of 326 HP was not enough for some clients and sports division AMG decided to install an even more powerful engine. The 6-liter AMG V8 engine provided 381 HP (386 ps) and 580 Nm (428 lb-ft) and was mated to the same 4-speed automatic transmission as in case of 5 liter V8 engine.
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AMG anticipated that there will also be customers who will replace the engine on their own and to have control over the number of modified units, the AMG models had received the code 957. There were 148 such units and another 12 that did not have the identification code. This is the reason the car is not named Mercedes E60 AMG because does not have the AMG 957 code. So, the name is Mercedes 500 E AMG 6.0 which explain the car is a 500 E with a changed engine but not with the whole AMG package.
One of these 12 units is for sale at the auction organized by Dorotheum
This 500 E was ordered by the head of the Bizerba-Waagen company in Balingen on October 2, 1990, just one day after Mercedes published the official price list. The car painted in metallic blue black has a special upholstery: leather on the lateral side of the seats and checkered fabric in the central area as in SL R129. This combination makes this 500E AMG 6.0 unique. The car’s equipment also includes two airbags, automatic air conditioning, heat pump, heated and electrically adjustable front seats with memory, audio system with active speakers and electrically adjustable steering wheel.
The 500 E was delivered and registered on June 24, 1991. On September 10, 1992, the owner ordered the conversion to the 6.0-liter engine from AMG. The vehicle documents were already amended on 17 November 1992. The invoice for the conversion, installation and TUV approval has amounted to DM 38,138.76 (equivalent to EUR 19,500).
In September 1998, the model modified by AMG was re-registered in the name of the owner of the company, born in 1935. In February 2004, he sold the car to a doctor friend who was born in 1943, while the odometer had 103,188 km on board. But the new owner considered the car too powerful and sold it after only two months and 797 kilometers. The Mercedes E60 AMG was registered with the last owner on April 29, 2004. In March 2005, the car was deregistered when it had 108,880 km on board. The last overhaul was made in May 2022. It has now 113,791 km on board. The auction house estimates a sale price between 120,000 and 160,000 euros for this special limousine that was named “The Hammer”.
