Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC: Classic Drive

In the Eighties, many considered the Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL ‘the best car in the world’, but if you were a real bigwig, you drove the W126-series model’s gorgeous coupe variant! Graeme Hurst reviews a 560 SEC once owned by a famous novelist.

The 1980s gave us fab music (imagine the decade without Michael Jackson’s Thriller – you can’t), along with memorably BIG hairstyles, nifty games (such as Pac-Man and the Rubik’s cube), and conspicuous luxury performance cars. If you sat at the end of the boardroom table and had a cheque book in which you could write telephone-number figures, you probably drove a Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC.

IMAGES: Duwyne Aspeling

And, with South Africa’s rampant inflation and exorbitant import tariffs at the time, that’s what the price tag of this range-topping Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC looked like: in 1989, it set its 1st owner, the late British-South African novelist Wilbur Smith, back over R300k! At the time, that sort of cash would have given you the keys to 15 VW Citi Golfs… or a few thousand copies of Wilbur’s 1989 novel A Time to Die.

Specification:

Model: Mercedes-Benz (W126) 560 SEC
Engine: M117 5.5-litre V8, petrol
Power: 220 kW at 5 000 rpm
Torque: 455 Nm at 3 750 rpm
Transmission: 4-speed auto, RWD
Weight: 1 746 kg
0-100 km/h: 6.78 sec (as tested by CAR)
Top speed: 247 kph (as tested by CAR)

But while the famed historical fiction writer’s work could’ve transported you into the latest adventures of retired guerrilla fighter-cum-hunter Sean Courtney at the time, the venerable Citi Golf hadn’t the feintest chance of propelling 4 adults and approximately 1.8-tonnes of Teutonic automotive opulence from zero to 100 kph in a shade over 6 seconds before topping out at an Autobahn-friendly 250 kph.

Nor could it offer state-of-the-art engineering attributes – including self-levelling rear suspension, ABS and ASR (acceleration slip regulation) – to ensure you could replicate the experience daily.

Yup, an SEC (an acronym for S-Klasse-Einspritzmotor-Coupe) was a highly accomplished car in the late Eighties. Codenamed C126, it boasted more than just performance or arresting looks: it had oodles of state-of-the-art refinement inside, starting with the electric seats and their clever ergonomic operation.

Been in a car where you simply push parts of a seat-shaped button to adjust the seat position? It seems de rigueur now, but the SEC was the 1st car in which you could do that. Have you had a seatbelt handed to you so you don’t have to throw your back out while buckling up? Welcome to the SEC’s party trick…

Of course, the Three-pointed Star was no stranger to pretty 2-door variants of its handsome saloons (even if it focused on the R107-series SL and C107-series SLC in the Seventies), and when the Bruno Sacco-styled SEC wowed Frankfurt back in ’81, it was more than a “cut-and-shut” of the elegant W126.

With a 90 mm shorter wheelbase than its 4-door SE sibling (now known as the S-Class), the SEC had svelte looks thanks to heavily raked C-pillars, aluminium was used extensively in its construction (as a weight-saving measure), and unlike previous Mercedes-Benz coupes, it was exclusively V8-powered.

The 380 SEC (and 500 SEC) made it to our shores in late ’83. When CAR magazine SA tested a 380 SEC a year later, it retailed for R74 800 – considerably less than the 560 SEC’s price tag 5 years later, but that was still a monumental number on a South African car showroom floor back then, when something as desirable (and already pricey) as an Alfa Romeo GTV6 3.0 could be yours for just over 30 grand…

So what tarmac metrics did a 380 SEC owner get for that sort of dough? Well, a top speed of 211 kph and a zero to 100 kph time of around 10 sec. Those numbers were impressive for the day, but not enough to embarrass the shark-nosed E24 BMW 635CSi 4-speed auto, powered by a 160 kW 3.5-litre inline-6.

For the ’87 model year, Mercedes South Africa introduced the 560 SEC (as the coupe counterpart of the revered 560 SEL saloon) and its 5.5-litre V8 produced 220 kW and 455 Nm! That was 46% more grunt than the 380 SEC’s 3.8-litre V8 and more than enough to match the E28 BMW M5 and locally developed E23 745i, both of which were powered by the M1-derived 3.5-litre 24-valve inline-6 (210 kW/340 Nm).

The 560 SEC remained unchanged until early 1991, when its price had crept up another R100 000. More than 3 decades on, an asking price of about R350k for something this capable seems laughable, but unlike some of its peers, the car’s presence certainly isn’t: its lines are still beguiling.

This is how timeless Sacco’s design is: swing this immaculate Arctic White example into Cape Town’s prestigious Mount Nelson hotel and it’ll still hold its own in the foyer… unlike a 7 Series from the era.

Summary

And this Teutonic beauty still feels surprisingly quick: sure, most 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbopetrol-propelled hatchbacks on sale today can match its acceleration, but the Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC still impresses for its locomotive-like urge when you drop it into Sport mode and floor the accelerator pedal.

With its wide (well, for the time) 215R15 rubber and substantial heft, the SEC feels surefooted and hugely trustworthy as you negotiate sweeping bends at speed. And comfortable, of course, with dual-zone aircon, cruise control and those nifty seat-shaped buttons to dial in your favoured driving position; all super handy when you’re hoping to overcome writer’s block with a dose of 1980s Autobahn adrenaline!

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