Mercedes-Benz 600

The 600 replaced the Mercedes-Benz W189 limousine, which was nicknamed the Adenauer, after Konrad Adenauer, who employed several of these during his term as the first West German chancellor.

Production began in 1964 and continued through to 1981.[2] During this time, production totalled 2,677 units, comprising 2,190 Saloons, 304 Pullmans, 124 6-door Pullmans and 59 Landaulets.[2]

The 600 succeeded the 1961 Mercedes-Benz W112 in using a pneumatic self-levelling suspension,[3][4] an enhancement of the Mercedes-Benz 300d Adenauer's dashboard activated mechanical torsion bar based system. A version is incorporated in Mercedes' current Active Body Control.

With its demise in 1981, the 600 marked the last ultra-luxury model that the brand produced in an unbroken line since the model 60 hp Simplex from 1903.[5] The company would return to this segment some 20 years later with the Maybach 57/62 (but the Maybach was extremely expensive), but these cars ultimately failed to captivate customers in the same way as their British rivals. As a result, Daimler ended production of the Maybach brand in 2012 and has not returned to this segment. As of 2019, the Mercedes flagship is the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, which occupies a considerably lower price bracket and is not a true successor to the 600 and earlier models. However, it is seen as a spiritual successor, since it is the first luxury Mercedes since the 600 to feature some bespoke design touches not available on the standard S-Class.

The 600 came in two main variants:

• A short wheelbase 4-door saloon, available with a power divider window separating the front seats from the rear bench seat, although most were built without this feature.
• A long wheelbase 4-door "Pullman" limousine (with two additional rear-facing seats separated from the driver compartment by a power divider window, of which 304 were built), and a 6-door limousine (with two forward-facing jump-seats at the middle two doors and a rear bench-seat).

A number of the limousines were made as landaulets, with a convertible top over the rear passenger compartment. Two versions of the convertible roof were made: long roof and short roof. Of them, the short roof, which opens only above the last, third row of seats, is the more common version. Rarer, especially with the 6-door landaulets, is the long roof, called the Presidential roof. In all, 59 landaulets were produced, and of them, only 26 were 6-door landaulets. Of these 26, only nine were 6-doors landaulets with the long Presidential-type roof. One of these nine cars was used by the former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito, and it was sold in 2017 in England, for £2.5 million.[6]

Landaulets like these were also notably used by the German government, as during the 1965 state visit of Queen Elizabeth II. The Vatican, in addition to an elongated Mercedes 300d 4-door landaulet, used for the Pope a specially designed Mercedes 600 4-door landaulet, which now resides at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Production of the landaulet versions of the 600 ended in 1980.

Mercedes also made two special 600 coupés: one as a gift for retiring long-time Mercedes chief designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, and the other for Fritz Nallinger, head of the Mercedes research and development centre in the 1950s and 60s.[7] These cars had a wheelbase 22 cm (8.6 inches) shorter than the SWB saloon. A third coupé was much later constructed by 600 enthusiast Karl Middelhauve Wausau, Wisconsin, from a SWB saloon.[8]

Karl Middelhauve also created a questionable pair of matching Chevrolet El Camino-style coupes from 600 SWB saloons. One of them with a Vortech supercharger. The majority of purists question the reason for destroying a classic such as an original 600 into a modified vehicle, while a handful of purists think Karl is extending function in the true spirit of the Grosse Mercedes.[9]

A single example of a SWB 4-door landaulet, combining the handling of a short-wheelbase with the qualities of a landaulet, was built by Mercedes in 1967 for former racing driver Count von Berckheim.

The 600's great size, weight, and numerous hydraulically driven amenities required more power than Mercedes' largest engine at that time, the M-189 3-litre 6-cylinder M189, could produce. A new V8 with more than twice the capacity was developed, the 6.3 L M100. It featured single overhead camshafts (SOHC) and Bosch mechanical fuel injection. It developed 250 hp (186 kW).

The 600's complex 150-bar (2,176 psi) hydraulic pressure system powered the automobile's windows, seats, sun-roof, boot lid, and automatically closing doors. Adjustable air suspension delivered excellent ride quality and sure handling over any road surface.[10]

In 1968 the M-100 engine and pneumatic suspension were fitted to the much smaller but still substantial W109 300SEL 6.3, creating the world's fastest four-door saloon. In 1975 a larger 6.9 litre version of M-100 was installed in the W116 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 and air suspension was replaced with a hydraulic suspension.

Famous owners of the Mercedes-Benz 600 have included the following people.

Political leaders and royalty

• Anastasio Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua bought a SWB for his wife Hope Portocarrero from the first production run.
• Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand[27]
• Chen Yi, former Chinese Foreign Minister[28]
• Daniel Moi[29][30]
• Deng Xiaoping[28]
• Deng Yingchao, wife of Zhou Enlai, the first Chinese Prime Minister[28]
• Enver Hoxha[31][32]
• François "Papa Doc" Duvalier[33][34]
• Francois Tombalbaye[35]
• Ferdinand Marcos, who owned four, including a landaulet, a 1981 bulletproof model and a six-door version[36][37][32]
• F. W. de Klerk[38][39]

Habib Bourguiba's 600 Pullman

• Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia[40][18]
• Hassan II of Morocco, King of Morocco[18]
• Hastings Kamuzu Banda
• Hosni Mubarak[41]
• Idi Amin[42]
• Jim Fouché[38]
• Josip Broz Tito, 1971 Pullman landaulet[43][44]
• Jean-Bédel Bokassa[45]
• Jean-Claude Duvalier[46]
• John Vorster[38]
• Jomo Kenyatta[47]
• King Khalid of Saudi Arabia
• Kim Il-sung[48][32]
• Kim Jong-il[32]
• Kim Jong-un;[49] the North Koreans have also owned a landaulet (both seen in the 65th anniversary parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2010)
• Leonid Brezhnev[18][50]
• Léopold Sédar Senghor, President of Senegal; the first Senegalese regime (1960–1980) under him had three 600s, a short wheel base, a long wheel base, and a Landaulet, later replaced by the W126-based Carat Limousine.
• Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and the royal court, who owned multiple 600 models including 3 landaulet models and 18 other for national guard[18]
• King Mohammed VI of Morocco[51]
• Muhammad Zia Ul Haq[52] (12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general who served as the President of Pakistan from 1978 until his death in 1988. Also kept the same 1970 Pullman 600 Grosse as the holder of the Prime Minister Office. This car now has a rich Historic importance for Pakistan.
• Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary leader[28]
• Marais Viljoen[38]
• Mobutu Sese Seko,[42] dictator and president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire)[28]
• Nico Diederichs[38]
• Nicolae Ceaușescu[18][32]
• Norodom Sihanouk, former King of Cambodia[28]
• Omar Bongo President of Gabon.[53]

Papal landaulet

• The Pope[54]
• Park Chung-hee[55]
• P. W. Botha[38]
• Religious leader Guru Maharaj Ji/Prem Rawat
• Colombian drug dealer Pablo Escobar, a LWB six-door 600, destroyed in an attack on Escobar in 1988 in Medellín.
• Robert Mugabe
• Saddam Hussein, who owned a long-roof landaulet that was recovered after the fall of Baghdad and is today owned by the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles[56][32]
• Süleyman Demirel, 9th President of Turkey[57]
• Todor Zhivkov Former President of Bulgaria from 1956 to 1989. Used Government owned high-end Benz models from 300D Adenauer to 450 SEL 6.9 for daily routine, and for State visits- 1967 600 Pullman 6-door Landaulet. The 600 Landaulet is still in use today by Bulgarian Government for Special occasions and visits.[58]
• Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto[52] (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that as the 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. He was also the founder of the Pakistan People's Party . Kept a 1970 Pullman 600 Grosse in the Prime Minister Office.
• Erich Honecker

In cinema, the Mercedes 600 was featured in several James Bond films, most notably as transport of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever. In Octopussy, the villain Kamal Khan is seen leaving Sotheby's London auction house in a 600 Pullman. Near the beginning of 1978's "Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe," the character played by Jacqueline Bisset is abducted from Heathrow Airport in a 600 Pullman.[59]

In television, a 600 was used by fictional Channing/Gioberti family matriarch Angela Channing in the American television series Falcon Crest. Images of the car driving from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Falcon Crest vineyard were featured in the opening credits of the first four seasons. It was also prominently featured in the television show Friday the 13th.

The limousine and landaulet versions of the 600 is favored by various heads of state, particularly dictators and monarchs during the 1960s and 1970s. This is similar to how its predecessor, the 770 limousine, was associated with Nazi Germany, being used as the official state car of Adolf Hitler.

There was also a Pullman version used in the Movie High Anxiety by Mel Brooks.

A red 1972 Pullman was seen in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.[60]

Prince Ital Joe featuring Marky Mark in "United" are driving in an Mercedes-Benz 600. The song was released in April 1994

600s are seen in several episodes of Amazon's original series The Man in the High Castle transporting Nazi officials.

Jack Nicholson's character drives a red 600 in the "Witches of Eastwick"

In X-Men: The Last Stand, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr arrive in a black 600.[61]

Technical data Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100)[62] (Manufacturer's figures except where stated)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mercedes-Benz W100.

• Mercedes-Benz 600 – historical information at Daimler.com
• The International M-100 Group (with a car registry by serial number)
• Photos of the 1965 papal landaulet at Conceptcarz.com
• Presentation of the 600 SWB at Amelia Island, Florida - video
• Jay Leno's Garage – 1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 - video