Mechatronik in Germany were kind enough to let me come and film their one of a kind Mercedes Benz W100 600 Pullman that had it interior completely replaced by Mercedes-Benz classic at the request of a royal family! This car is special…
What did Mercedes do to this €3 Million ROYAL Pullman w/ Maybach Interior!
Mercedes-Benz put this 1975 600 Pullman through a seven-year restoration in which the brand invested $3.2 million, breathing life into a long outdated limousine and bringing it to contemporary standards. It still looks like a classic on the outside, but it is every inch a modern Maybach on the inside.
In the mid-1970s, anyone who was anyone, be it a third-world dictator, a music star, or a Hollywood A-lister, had to have one. That is how the Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman ended up in garages belonging to Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Coco Chanel, or Saddam Hussein.
The limousine rolled off the production line in Germany wearing anthracite gray metallic over blue leather, sporting a self-leveling suspension and hydraulic windows that would be able to chop off any fingers coming their way. The model was delivered to Lebanon in 1975.
Mercedes-Benz Classic bought it back in 2007 in Malaga, Spain. Today, the 600 Pullman is painted in the precious Perlmutt Weiss (Mother of Pearl White) metallic paint, a shade that Mercedes did not have in its portfolio at the time.
It is the first sign the car had departed from its stock version. Pop the door (yes, any of them), and the opulent interior seemed to check all the right boxes of the era and invent others.
Then, the car underwent a thorough restoration at the Mercedes-Benz Classic in Fellbach, Germany, with the help of Daimler AG. It all started in 2007. Seven years and $3.23 million later, we were face to face with a luxury sedan that was still a classic but borrowed contemporary features. Mercedes-Benz revealed that it was one of their most expensive restoration projects ever.
Why did it take them so long? Even if you are Mercedes-Benz, it isn’t that easy to procure parts for a car that rare and has been out of production for decades.
The owner resisted the restomodding temptation
Luckily, the owner did not ask for the vehicle to be converted into something unrecognizable. He did not ask for any huge wheels, aero kit, or any add-ons that would make it depart from its original elegant stance.
He just asked for more comfort, hoping to get a private jet kind of luxury without having to take off. So, Mercedes came up with what the modern Maybach offers. That is how elements from the stretched Maybach 62, built between 1997 and 2012, ended up on board the 600 Pullman.
The car now features Maybach’s electro-transparent panoramic glass roof, which can switch from clear to opaque at the touch of a button. The roof hoasts Maybach analog gauges from the 62 sedan. They provide information about speed, time, and exterior temperature.
Another button can raise or lower the power glass partition, which divides the rear passenger compartment from that of the chauffeur.
The rear-facing and forward-facing back passenger seats in red garnet leather are also carried over from a 62 luxury sedan and feature electric adjustment, heating, and cooling.
The curtains protecting the rear occupants are still there
Occupants sitting in a face-to-face layout of the 1975 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman will benefit from all the space that a 153.5-inch (3,900-millimeter) wheelbase can provide, but also from the presence of front and rear automatic control and ambient lighting.
And while they are enjoying the ride on the Maybach-style magic carpet, a refrigerator will keep the champagne cold during the trip. The silver flutes are still in their Maybach-branded original box.
Deployable folding tables and built-in nav screens are on the menu. Furthermore, a button turns on an LCD TV screen integrated into the center wall, sliding up and down. A Dolby surround audio system with Bluetooth connectivity provides the concert hall type of sound experience.
The pleated-linen curtains for the rear windows kept their ground, and so did the white-rimmed steering wheel, the instrument panel, and the Becker Grand Prix AM/FM radio in the dashboard, with no USB port in sight.
The intercommunication system that allows conversation between passenger and driver was carried over from a Mercedes-Benz S-Class W221 Pullman. A front and reverse camera also showed up on board.
The owner resisted the temptation of putting a Mercedes-AMG V12 engine under the hood. Therefore, Mercedes Classic rebuilt the original 6.3-liter single-overhead cam V8 engine. A rebuilt four-speed automatic transmission sends 247 horsepower (250 metric horsepower) to the ground through the rear wheels. With all the original components rebuilt, the Pullman was able to keep its classic car status.
This car just can’t seem to sell
After the restoration was completed, the Mercedes went on the used car market, but it never sold, even though it was listed for a price way below the remake cost. Anybody who had $2.32 million could drive it home, getting the original keys (no keyless go involved) and full documentation as well.
The dealership from Alkmaar, northwest of Amsterdam, could have even arranged shipping into the US. It had been there before; after all, it was a well-known territory. At the time of the listing, back in 2020, the car came with only 691 miles (1,112 kilometers) on the clock, but the counting probably started after the engine rebuild.
Mercedes built 2,677 units of the 600 luxury sedan, internally known as the W100. The model was available with either a short or long wheelbase, with either four or six doors.
Only 304 of them were Pullmans, all built by hand. Their rarity credits them with the status of collectors’ cars, especially if they had the “Landaulet” tag attached next to their name. Only 59 of those saw the light of day.
The car did not sell in 2020 and was listed again several times. It was previously offered for 1,844,500 euros, which translates to roughly $2 million, and now, whoever falls in love with it can take it home for 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million), which doesn’t even cover half the cost of the restoration. Even though it is truly a bargain, it looks like the 1975 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman is going to just sit there, on the website of the German dealer for a while.
