Mercedes tuner Brabus, puts its own W124 500E-based ‘6.5’ up for sale

Of course, my car gonads would be getting all excited about this. It has to do with one of my dream cars! And before you go with the “Oh here we go again…” notion, allow me to enlighten with a quick history lesson.

Mercedes-Benz fundamentally introduced what we call a “Q-Car,” which is the foreign equivalent to the “sleeper”—a car with high performance and unassuming visuals. Beginning with the legendary W108 300SEL 6.3, Mercedes-Benz produced only a few examples that followed the same bloodline. And one of these examples is arguably one of the last truly greatest Mercedes-Benzes ever built.

Beginning with their critically acclaimed, best midsized sedan ever produced, Mercedes’s team in Stuttgart paired up with Porsche in Zuffenhausen to create the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” in 1992: the W124 500E.

Featuring the R129’s 500SL’s 5.0L M119 V8 good for 322hp and 354 lb-ft of torque amongst many other mechanical upgrades, the 500E had to be shipped back and forth between Porsche’s and Mercedes’ assembly plants, taking a total of 18 days to complete each model. Zero to 60 came up in 5.5 seconds for a top speed limited to 155mph. And although the 500E wasn’t exactly a BMW M5 beater, it was certainly a completely different animal that excelled in many other ways the M5 did not.

And other than the flared wheel arches and the unique 500 badge on the trunk, nobody would have ever guessed that the 500E was any different than your neighbor’s E320. It’s a car that even Mercedes-Benz considers a classic and they exist in rather small numbers.

Of course, when the 500E was first introduced, there were others still around to build off of Mercedes and Porsche’s accomplishment—one of them being Brabus.

By taking the 500E’s facelifted sibling, the E500, Brabus retuned the 5.0L to displace a whopping 6.5L for a total of 444hp. That changed the 0 to 60 from 5.5, to 5.2 for a top speed of 177mph.

These Brabus 6.5s are extremely hard to come by. But if you ever had the urge to look into buying one, you may have your chance now! Word is that Brabus is selling their own example of the Brabus 6.5. And usually, that means it’s going to be quite the museum piece. Within the same report, this particular example only has 252 miles on its clock.

Other details about the sale weren’t released. But Brabus said themselves that should anyone express interest, they should send the company an email or call them directly. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to own one of the rarest and most desirable Mercedes-Benzes.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: Brabus via CarScoop