Yahoo Autos 1964 Mercedes-Benz 220SE Coupe with a 6.3-Liter V-8 Found on BaT
The 1960s Mercedes-Benz 220SE was beautiful, but not exactly fleet of foot.
This example fixes that issue neatly with the installation of the 6.3-liter V-8.
Nicely restored, it's the ideal 1960s Mercedes grand tourer that Mercedes never built.
Launched at the beginning of the 1960s, the W111 Mercedes-Benz coupe was elegance personified. A genteel GT fitted with a buttery-smooth inline-six, it was built to cruise along highways without fuss, relaxed and luxurious. AMG founders Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher had yet to branch out on their own, so the idea of stuffing a huge V-8 under the W111's hood to create an über-Merc was yet to come. But this is what might have been.
This 1964 Mercedes-Benz 220SE with a gargantuan 6.3-liter V-8 under its hood is a car AMG might have created had it started up a few years earlier, and this pretty and potent machine is up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). From the outside, there's little hint at the ferocity contained under the sheetmetal, just pure mid-Sixties Benz restraint. Underneath is an M100 V-8, as found in the contemporary Mercedes flagship limousine, the 600 Grosser. Basically, this car is the would-be opa for every big AMG 6.3 coupe that followed.
And, while it's not a factory model, this really is something that Mercedes could have built in-period. In 1967, the year that Aufrecht and Melcher branched off to build their racing engines, Mercedes created a one-off, M100-powered "Pagoda" 280SL. But the additional weight and power of the V-8 was too much for the smaller SL.
In this larger 220SE coupe, however, the big V-8 looks like it was always meant to be the top option. The conversion was done sometime in the late 1990s, and uses many Mercedes parts such that everything appears to be factory-spec. The front suspension was beefed up to handle the weight, and the engine was paired with a four-speed automatic transmission.
Previously auctioned on Bring a Trailer in 2019, this proto-AMG fetched $63,500, something of a bargain given the quality of the work done here. Since selling, the interior has been reupholstered in burgundy leather that nicely matches the two-tone exterior, the wood trim has been refinished, and the carpets and floor mats are new. On the outside, 14-inch alloy wheels finish things off, and a discreet 6.3 badge provides the cherry on top.
It's a unique example of one of the most beautiful Mercedes designs, married with eight-cylinder power with endless reserves of torque. This not-quite-AMG W111 coupe would be sure to stir interest at any local Mercedes-Benz enthusiast meet. It's a shame Mercedes-Benz never built and sold these from the factory, but it's wonderful that someone did such a good job correcting that oversight.
The auction ends on September 18.
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