1985 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC | Retro Review
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- čas přidán 29. 05. 2024
- The 500 SEC was a bigger than life luxury coupe with a price tag to match. Unheard of features for 1985 included airbag and ABS!
Show 406 | Original Airdate 10-16-1984
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Back when Mercedes vehicles were made to a standard, not a price
mhm. and nothing was included in standart trim. not even AC or electric windows.
@@RivieraByBuick That's how modern Mercedes are. Get on their website and notice how they nickel and dime the hell out of you for a laundry list of optional features. At least AC and power windows are standard now.
@@palebeachbum everything is standard now even on smallest and cheapest of cars. You could only dream of that in the old days. And yeah...pricewise, with correlation of inflation, lets say the S class costed the same as now in the base form, but even rear headrests and front armrests were an option back then. Think about that huge profits they were making back in old days. So i`d say in equal trim vehicles were about 30% more expensive back then. Imagine yourself paying 5k for ABS or 5k for airbags or 5k for AC in 2024 new car for 120k eur base price
Mercs from this era weren't as reliable as made out.
@@davecom3 I agree. My '87 300E was riddled with electrical failures and the transmission went out around 100k, which is common with them.
Almost 40 years later and this car is STILL stunning!
It's absolutely Gorgeous! I almost bought a used one about 10 years ago but it needed too much mechanical work. I ended up buying a 92 300E that looked pretty awesome in Black on Black.Later I bought the SUV from a friend and that was a very good car..
I mostly agree. The wheels on the car shown are classic, but ugly as sin. I liked following year's wheels better. Who could knock the AMG wide-body panels too. :)
For real. What I like about older Mercs is that they had a more, idk a "durable" look to them. The body, actual bumpers lol, the ride height too.
@@clevelandaeromotive ugly? Wow, you got no taste. Probably drive a Camry.
I owned a ‘89 560 SEC Silver with navy leather interior. Folks always approached to voice approval.
Back when they built quality
It's sad how greedy execs ruined MB quality in favor of chasing rapid growth and higher profit margins from misplaced insecurity. MB was tops of JD before Lexus came out in '89.
Kiss those days gone
@@jmin8400Solid plastic interiors VS now Fake metal- it's all relative.
@@jmin8400 Mercedes is like air travel, they once very exclusive and expensive until they introduced cheaper models displacing affordable luxury brands such as Chrysler, Oldsmobile and Mercury etc. These classic Mercedes are true Mercedes and they deserved to be loved and preserved.
40 years later you can pull up in this car and still get respect 🫡
Definitely
I was born the same year as this car and we are 39 not 40 don't add years to us 😂
@@Stressless20231985 cars were produced in 1984
Exactly OP, that's what a well designed quality car represents. Timelessness.
That's a FACT 👍🏾
The SEC design is so timeless.
The brown metallic SEC with tan interior in the showroom at the beginning has always been my dream car. Such a beautiful car.
Brown with a a tan interior. James May would approve of that.
@@bmstylee funny enough, he's my favorite Top Gear presenter.
My favorite is the blue-on-silver with blue interior and walnut wood combo also shown here, but the brown and tan combo is also very nice.
My middle-school science teacher had a W126 turbodiesel. We all thought "she must be a millionaire". We didn't really take into account that the car was at least ten years old at the time. She was a cool teacher for sure. I remember one day we studied human digestion and this kid in front of me turned around and asked me "is feces turds?". "Yes", I replied.
Fact / Trivia: Four F1 world champions owned a Mercedes SEC in the 80's/90's. Ayrton Senna, Keke Rosberg, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. The fact that best drivers in the world chose this car speaks volumes.
Don't forget Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse!
You guys are cool, I bet we could be friends 😃
People who have never experienced one of these Mercedes from the '80's will never understand just how much better they were than the ones which came after the mid-'90's. All you need to do is close the door on one to sense the quality. These were masterpieces of class and while they exuded luxury, they did it in a way which wasn't flashy, overdone, and ostentatious like the "new money" luxury market of today.
The Golden Age was 1985 thru 91 foir the S Class; '93 for the E Class and 190e
Only 1985 Monte Carlo SS gave better performance at 1/3 the price...
@@buzzwaldron6195 Doesn't matter. It was put together like garbage. When people say the doors closed like a bank vault, it's really true.
@@buzzwaldron6195 Junk car though.
This goes for every European luxury car from the 1980s that I've experienced in person. Mercedes. BMW. Audi. Jag. Volvo. Saab. They all had solid, vault-like build quality. They all started cheapening their cars in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, the quality just wasn't the same. I briefly owned a 1987 Mercedes 300E. You felt like you were driving something special in that car. The chrome grill was actually chrome-plated metal. Even the louvers on the dashboard climate vents were metal. The wood trim was real wood. Build quality was rock solid. The electrical system was a whole other story, but I digress. I also owned a couple of Volvos. A 1985 240 and a 1994 940 Turbo. Though not as luxurious in terms of features and finishes, they were vastly more comfortable and had extremely solid build quality. If only I could go back in time, buy one new, and bring it back with me.
Remember this car when Sue Ellen Ewing drove it in Dallas, but my heart still stays with 350SL red Bobby Ewing's Merc
Sharon Stone also drove one in Casino. If you know the scene you know lol
3:57 Those analog gauges from the 1980s are absoutely iconic. Never bettered - even by Mercedes - which now serves up some of the trashiest digital dashboards in the entire auto industry.
Couldn't agree more. This should be the top comment here!
I absolutely hate digital gauges. I don't care how customizable and elaborate they are. Many automakers require you to buy their base model to get analog gauges. Mercedes doesn't even give you a choice. I look at screens all day, my car is the last place I want to see them.
The only iconic gauges from the 80s was the Atari dashboard from the Corvette. These boring, dull gauges that look like something out of a Dodge are not even worth remembering.
Bruno Sacco's masterpiece! 1986 got the even better 560SEC with Euro lamps and wipers. Still beautiful than most cars made today.
Driver’s airbag and anti lock brakes in 1985? WOW!! Didn’t know these features were available on any car back then.
The 1985 Lincoln Continental and Mark VII had ABS too, I believe Ford was the first U.S. auto manufacturer to offer it - The Chevy Corvette got ABS the following year. It was a rare feature in 1985 but it existed.
Some big body GM cars actually offered airbags in the mid '70s but VERY few people opted for them so they were quickly discontinued.
@@brians8794yup, 74-76 Buick, Cadillac and Olds. It was actually a highly regarded system and still is today
@@brians8794 Yes! In 1974. And don't forget the Lincoln Mark 2 had a primitive form of ABS in 1970!
@@Stressless2023Corvette was solidly irrelevant by comparison. Great leap the C4, but pretty dismal in quality.
Design-wise, so much better than any contemporary Mercedes..
That fact alone, is very surprising...
Yacht sized steering wheel - classic line 😂
John is funny as heck
We had an 85 300D it would get you killed if you didn’t have about 4-5 seconds for the turbo to spool pulling out in front of traffic but when it got going it was surprising and start grabbing gears and locking the converter. It was a tough vehicle
Just picked one up
91k miles showing
Been garaged since 2014
Needs work
But it’s a tank and worth it
I remember when Mercedes-Benz showcased the W126 380SEC at the Chicago Auto Show in 1982:
The stunning hardtop coupe was presented in Olive Green metallic with a natural leather interior as she slowly rotated on a raised turntable…new as tomorrow but instantly classic.
I was in love at that moment- at age 14..!
A timeless car to this day.
I have always thought the SEC, S Class Coupe, and CL were the best of the breed! They are the ultimate grand tourer with a dash of sport.
Present day and this car still looks good and has an elegance that many new cars do not have. Just funny to see the difference in time. 9 seconds to 60mph was considered quick than compared to now. Funny how a V8 with 184hp and 270 lb feet was considered good then. Todays naturally aspirated 6 cylinders are cranking 300hp and 270 lb feet. Forget about twin turbos. Such a different time in car production but needless to say this is a great car and will always be
The engineering was far simpler under the hood back then. I read somewhere that modern Mercedes have over 100 computer modules in them.
Except 1985 Monte Carlo SS gave better performance at 1/3 the price...
well at the time American car like Z28 came standard with the 5.0 L LG4 4-bbl V8 rated at 145 hp lol
@@hassyg4083 - And Monte Carlo, also, with 175 - 190 HP optional...
I just laugh when someone has to post about how today's basic 6 cylinder engines make 50 to 100% more power than a V8 engine from 40+ years ago. Look at it this way. If a 1985 V8 is making 180-200hp, a 1940s V8(flathead Ford) was making 85 to 100hp. I think people who never lived through a certain era just don't grasp what engineers were up against in terms of available technology even as recent as 20 years ago.
Be grateful for what we have today, I'm sure 50 years from now people will compare how a car made of batteries only had a range of less than 300 miles in the 2020s, while what they are accustomed to(in that future) can go unlimited miles while self-charging along the way...
Completed finally my 1984 500SE sedan with 2009 E series 5.5V8 and 7sp conversion. 100% stock appearance but enough grunt to keep current traffic honest. Honestly, don’t think I’ll ever sell it (as long as rust dosent get it)
Have loved these SEC's since day one. At least the U.S. government finally abolished those stupid mandatory sealed beam headlamps shortly after these were built and Benz was able to add aero headlamps on the next SEC model to turn it into a really handsome car. I think the next model was the 560SEC. My doctor used to own one back in those days and the yellow NY plates looked good on it.
Like John mentioned here, this body style is catching up again, now only 40 years after it was released. I'd love to own me one today.
That's not really true still. MBUSA lazily half-assed it and came up with a compromise for the '86 model year, still slightly inferior to global spec cars.
Instead of the flush units of global models, North American spec cars got new composite units inserted into the space of the sealed beams. Compare a '91 560SEC to a European spec example, you'll see what I mean. Same problem with the W124.
One day, I will own a 500 SEC.
Yes some day, this and next to it in the climate controlled garage is a 850CSi
1985 Monte Carlo SS gave better performance at 1/3 the price...
@@buzzwaldron6195absolutely HOWEVER the G Body wasn’t exactly a work of art. Flimsy tin-can like construction where the body flexed so much it caused tears in the sheet metal. Premature wearing of door hinges, plastic tape driven window regulators that were broken by 1987. HVAC blend door failures. Hood latch broke. The infamous drooping GM headliner and bubbling interior plastics. Seat belts that didn’t retract (and was occasionally caught hanging out the passenger door dragging on the ground). Standard equipment undersized Chevy brakes. An alternator that would noticeably bog down the 305 V8 when the turn signal would (slowly)cycle on and off. All of these issues were when the car was only a few years old. The car was black and pretty damn good looking. Lived in San Diego at the time and back then it was THE car to have…which is also why it got stolen and never recovered. Got an Astro Van instead. The 80’s were not a good time for GM
@@craig0769 - We had a Monte Carlo LS from new and it was mostly trouble free until went into junkyard at 250K miles... although I do oil my door hinges yearly...
@@craig0769 uh, I like this Mercedes, but are you seriously trying to say it's better looking than an 85 Monte Carlo SS? Wow. Talk about Eurotrash.
About $166k in 2024 money.
That blows my mind!
That's not even correct. It's $170,211, but as usual many of y idlots will calculate this generically with 1985 as the reference.
The video is from 1984 clownius, not 1985.
This video being made in September 1984 and airing 1984/10/16, means $57,000 is equivalent to $170,112 not $166k.
If you can't be bothered to check the actual episode description and get the right EXACT info, stop lazily misleading people with poorly researched information.
@@jeremytimko9990It's $171,000, OP calculated the wrong figures and is off.
It's nearly $175k in today's money. Not sure if you guys are using the wrong sites or what. Or I guess it's possible bidenomics increased the inflation by $9k in one day.
@@nwezetx1 Name calling and hostility? Dad, is that you?
That Mercedes is timeless elegance.❤
I would rather have this Mercedes from 39 years ago than any of the over-teched, fragile, Teutonic garbage they are peddling today. This is a Real Benz from an era of true quality and fine German engineering, built for both enthusiastic drivers and comfort-seeking passengers alike.
There were a bunch of these running around SoCal back in the days. Das Beste oder Nichts.
My dad had an 1987 560SEL. Smoked gold with maroon interior. That car was a big, beautiful tank. Everything about that car felt solid and high quality. I'm not sure if modern cars can compare when it comes to fit and finish.
Always admired those cars. They’ve aged very well
I had a 1982 380SEC that was the same body and enjoyed it, Excellent Coupe!
A true thought out piece of engineering.
They were years ahead of their time!!!! Love the C126 & W140!
Intro had no context and its absolutely gold. Lmfao
"Maybe we can get that car for a long term road test, say for about 20 years." Yes. Wise words.
39 year old airbag 💨
You could get SRS on the S Class starting in 1980 in Europe!
@@compu85 that’s so cool! Probably still works too
Hey! That’s my nickname for my wife too!
Mercedes would probably sell you a new one for the car for like $8,000.
@@Mdtttttt40 year old airbag. This car was built in 1984.
The MB 500 SEC and the BMW 635 CSi from the 80s, and the MB 600 SEC and the BMW 850 CSi from the 90s. A vintage must have vehicles that make a statement as you drive.
That seat belt feature is cool...
My father had a couple of BMW 3 series coupes that did the same. It is cool and I don't understand why Motor Week scoffed at it.
I have a lot of history with Mercedes... Even worked on the assembly line in '97 in Sindelfingen.
But one of the great memories is, when my dad lent me his 560SEL (Michael Milken's former car). Took it to Las Vegas, from LA. We hit 130, on some Mexican hwy, with the windows down. It was glorious and glassy smooth.
Wow, that's amazing to hear. Like to hear some history from veterans like you.
You went to Mexico on the way to Vegas from LA?
@@mediocreman2 Hmm, great point. It's a complete contradiction.
What camp did you father guard?
Still a good looking car today.
Still runs even 30 years later. But hard to find out in the streets these days.
I've always been a big fan of the elegant exterior styling of the 126
Owned a blue black 1990 560 SEC with grey leather from 1999 to 2013. Absolutely fabulous car that never ever went wrong. It lived a pampered life but even so it was on par with anything and it is one of only a small handful of cars I would own today. Agree with everyone about the quality, its when Mercedes were at the top of their game. And they talk about progress?... ..
it has everything i want in a mercedes-benz and nothing i dont.
You need elementary school. Capital letters...FAIL.
Man that price. Since this was aired in '84, that's around $175,000 today!
Airbag goes off and the guy doesn’t lose his pipe. Nice!
That car was ahead of anything on the road in those days! Very impressive!
Actually GM was the world leader in tech in cars. Had airbags in the 70s, antilock brakes before this. They had touch screens in the mid 80s. It's why Ferrari even today licenses magnetic ride control from GM. The issue was always cost, and people didn't want to pay the huge price to get those goodies. Which is why this car cost well over $250k in today's numbers.
4:11 John: AND MERCEDES OUGHT TO OFFER A PRIZE TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO WORK THE HIGH BUCK BECKER GRAND PRIX ELECTRONIC RADIO! LOL
I hate those radios the rest of the car is wonderful
You must love the idea that 180hp and 0 - 60 in 9s is good. How times have changed. And I’d have one of these in heartbeat.
3700lbs for that era is quite heavy. What is very impressive, even by today's standards, is the braking. 55-0 in 100ft? That's what, 110ft maybe from 60? On those tires? That's remarkable. Put some modern tires on that thing and you could be under 100ft from 60, which is remarkable.
I remember I ate a grilled cheese sandwich back in 1985. Good times
Class and style...
Wow 0 to 60 in only 9 seconds. How times have changed.
Thanks Joyce
Great looking quality built car compared to the ugly trash they make today.
Far better quality than the crap 💩 Mercedes Benz build today
thanks Joyce
Das ist sehr interessant. Die sparnzeige hat viele verwendungszwecke die nur fachleute kennes, zeb die motorteistung und ordnungsgemabe betriebsvakuum druck.
Owned one from 1995 to 1999. An '87. It was a pleasure to drive when it behaved. A nightmare, however, to maintain. That Bosch Jetronic fuel injection system gummed up so easily and would, in a best case scenario, lead "only" to misses. In a worst case scenario, complete engine shut down. Stuck fuel distributor plunger. If you buy one of these today, make SURE the whole fuel injection system has been sorted out first.
I drove my brothers all the time he had three starting with an 83 ending with a 92 560 .Nothing like it today .
Actually there's tons of cars like it today. In fact my BMW 4-series is very very similar in terms of size and weight, even the little arm that hands you the seat belt.
Thanks MW
When a mercedes was a mercedes. What a beautiful car.
My old bmw was an 1985 model (production date was 12/84) 325e, had NO ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM. I think that was maybe the 1st year it was introduced.
So awesome car.👍
Grandparents had a 1988 560 SEC that took them over 200k miles even with ham-handed abuse (they broke the seatbelt courtesy arm thingies, smh). It was a magnificent car to drive and ride in, and it always looked wonderful.
For 1984, this was something spectacular in an era of malaise in the USA.
Which is double speak for among Detroit's utter junk.
@@MercOne Haha, wouldn't catch me dead in an American luxury car in 1984. Hell the F no. Funny how the Germans beat the Americans at their own game, by investing in the large sedan segment and achieving global domination with the W126.
Without fleets, our automakers still wouldn't be able to bring out an S580 equivalent via Cadillac, Chrysler, or Lincoln and succeed at 70% the price.
w126 all day! Miss mine a ridiculous amount right now! : (
This car stuck in my head after watching The Roadhouse.
I think this was one of the last real Mercedes produced next to the W124. Real in that they built the cars to perfection stuffing the accountants in the closet. I wish the world would go back to making good stuff rather than how can we squeeze the consumer and fractionalize profit MORE. Thats all we do now. What new way can i steal money legally?
W140 was the last in that sense.
4:55 what a job he has! Test driving airbag deployment in a mercedes with no door while sucking down a pipe!
I was eleven when these Benzinoes dropped. Boy O boy time sure does fly.
I wish more Mercedes Benz cars looked like this. Instead most of their cars have gotten ugly over the last couple years now :((
I'd love any SEC, but a 560? Yes, please.
I had a Lapis Blue 380SEC
Sadly most people want SUV’s that are ugly in comparison
There's a few SUVs out there that are like sports cars and they're very nice to drive.
had this been a station wagon, you would have a more valid point of comparison.
I had a 2021 Porsche Macan GTS (briefly thanx to a red light runner) and Id rather I had a wagon or coupe, but I didnt fit well in a 718 and to get ventilated seats wouldve cost me $110k for a Boxster.. I wasnt sad to see my Macan GTS go
@@Butchcub75 years ago I hit a red light runner with my Caddie coupe. At work they called me the Monte Carlo killer
People don't understand SUVs are useless these days and slurp more gas than compared to a coupe or sedan
It’s kinda incredible how planted it was in the test footage.
Those cars are nice but it's the AMG upgrades that are the real collectables in the modern age. (For example '89 Mercedes Benz 560 SEC AMG)
185 Horsepower? In Germany the same Modell had 252 Horsepower.
Catalytic converter, that's why.
The size of the tires is insane.
Nice!
Reminds me of Patrick Swayze in "Roadhouse"! Ill take one & a Riviera too.
The flush mount headlights were so much nicer looking. All I see is K car headlights with these. Otherwise beautiful car.
Compare this to a 1984 Eldorado and its just insane the gulf between the two cars in terms of quality and engineering. Cadillac had a 130hp HT4100 V8 that did 0-60 in about 18 seconds and liked to self destruct. The Cadillac had the flash and looked great, but was a real piece of junk otherwise.
My dad had the Sedan de Ville with that same crappy engine. I could drive circles around it in my 1966 Corvair🤣
Peak modern era Mercedes.
57k in 1985? Wow ..well, it did have an airbag.
Back when Mercedes made cars for the affluent, not for the poors.
I can't help but see a bit of the K-car in the headlights and the grill.
Bulletproof battleship
What happened to the long term road test that should've took place in October 2004?
a car for societys upper crust of the time.
Also, that Rover SD1.
2:22 LOL OMg i love this. The car swaying in the turns, the tires screaming for help. The only thing missing is a hub cap rolling off on turn. 😂
Try that with a Grand Marquis, Caprice Classic, Cadillac or Lincoln of the same era🤣
Yes it was expensive, but they knew it was for a completely different market.
The engine, suspension and build quality was way ahead of everything else.
Mercedes spared no expense designing and building these legends, therefore the high price.
Later the accountants took over and yes the era of quality took a dive.
Remember this though.
Even the later year cars ended up being driven more miles than other manufacturers cars before they got crushed.
People complain about Mercedes of the later 90's 2000 and beyond models being money pits and complete junk, but fail to realize that many of these cars ended up being crushed with 250k to 300k miles on them still outlasting many cars of that era minus Honda, Toyota etc.
Still, you were driving a Mercedes and you were willing to pay extra.
People who purchased these cars that were 10 plus years old with 200k miles and poor maintenance shouldn't be the ones to judge if a car was good or not.
@@peterarsenault2671 yeah, a GM or Crown Vic or Caprice with police or taxi package would do ok, but when this car rides like a Cadillac or Lincoln and can out handle them its worth it. This is when Mercedes made great cars. I have a 1991 350SD. Obviously someone (see above) has never driven any of the cars you mentioned. (I have a 1998 MGM, Lincoln Mark V and VII among other land yachts) and Mercedes will lean but corner surprisingly well. :)
compared to an American car of the day it was 100x better
How old are you? Ever seen another 1985 sedan perform like that? BMW yes but nothing else.
Euro folks who say "How do Americans get so little horsepower out of so many cubic inches" tend to forget cars like these existed. Even Germany was ok with low HP out of a 5.0 in their lumpy sedan. Gm got similar (higher) figures out of their 5.0 in '83 with a carburetor and bumped it up to 230 with EFI two years later.
The proletariat GM 5.0 that made 165-170 hp really does not compare to the TOTL German unit shown here, but I'd like to think of it as their German Impala. I'd drive the heck out of it
$57,000 in todays money (2024) is $166,000! Insane!
Not sure what site you're using, but it's actually closer to $175k. You have to add the $1,000 gas guzzler tax.
I wish coupe's were popular again!
Still baller
Much better than any new Mercedes! Now they’re cheap feeling cars with high gloss plastic
Mercedes quality and design has gone waaaaaay down. None of their vehicles look good. Terrible design language. Overpriced crap.
There are still a few gems in the modern era like the W212 and W166
I remember the 80s era Mercedes being uglified by US bumper and plastic headlight regulations back in the day.
I have an 87 560sec still dont understand how to use that radio
I didn't know they reduced the power so much for the American market. I think the EU versions had around 240hp.
Mmmmm🤔
My '95 Monte Carlo looked even sleeker got excellent fuel ⛽ economy was almost as fast on the track with a V6 comfortable roomy interior and a great stereo. Reliable too.
Amazing it had airbags and ABS in 1985. Also amazing is how much Chrysler tried to steal this Mercedes front end headlight/grill design on their K-car 🤦🏻♂️
This is 1984 not 1985.
@@nwezetx1 John Davis begs to differ with you
Yeah the only other car I think you could get with ABS around this time was the Corvette - The airbag I think was exclusive to Mercedes in the U.S. until the late 80's although I remember some Chevrolet's offering one as kind of a novelty in the 70's.
GM offered dual multi stage airbags from 1974 to 1976 in their full size Cadillacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles. It was actually a ground breaking design for the time, the IIHS tested some decades later and they still functioned
@@jameswillard1 DumsxuII, this was taped in the early fall of 1984 and later aired *October 16, 1984* . Therefore, U.S. currency, that point in time, and automotive market environment are all reflective of the YEAR 1984, NOT 1985.
Next time check the effin' episode description before ignorantly commenting and stupidly taking John Davis out of context yourseIf. I keep seeing yvo cIueIess dingus extraordinaires commenting "nInEtEAN A8ty FIHVE" everywhere on this video, missing the damh obvious.
We currently in May 2024 have 2025 models out right now, doesn't mean we're already in the year 2025. Get a clue and use common sense.
(All misspellings above are deliberate)