1992 Mercedes Benz 600SEL
In what has to go down as one of my all-time biggest mistakes, I traded my frame-off restored '71 Mustang Mach 1 to MotoExotica in Missouri for this 12-cylinder Benz. Value wise is was a fair deal at the time, but I spent 10's of thousands of $$$s on this thing (I really wish I was exaggerating). I even had to swap out the motor. God help you if your German V12 needs an engine transplant.
To be fair, the car was in great shape cosmetically when I got it and was a joy to drive when it ran well. After I had replaced about every conceivable part on the car I sold it to a guy from Corpus who's probably still driving this thing 15 years later with not so much as a burned out bulb. I was just the lucky idiot that caught it at the wrong time. To make matters worse, a few years after I traded for this thing the value of my Mustang quadrupled.
These 12-cylinder German motors are amazing to drive, but can be a nightmare to maintain. They don't like to sit and they're so complicated that every little issue has the potential to be catastrophic both mechanically and financially. This one cost me a fortune.
One interesting thing about this car was that it had the factory "Protection Package". Basically this consisted of bullet-proof glass, run-flat tires, a filtration system to combat chemical attacks, and other various goodies. Mercedes and BMW (and maybe a few others) used to offer these cars with this as a factory option back in the day. It was VERY expensive and usually only ordered by companies and governments. I'm not sure what my cars history was, but other than incredibly thick glass and a shocking amount of weight, you couldn't really tell it from a normal 600SEL. If you want a "Protection Package" today, you have to go to an aftermarket company (one of the largest in the world is in San Antonio).
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