It feels like the largest Mercedes-Benz sedans have been known as the S-class for my entire life, but not exactly. It wasn't until the W116 full-size Benzes debuted in September of 1972 as a '73 model that the S-class moniker became official. The W116 line soldiered on through the entirety of the Seventies until their W126 replacement was launched for the 1980 model year.
When it was launched in the U.S. as a 1981 model, the W126 S-class sedans were only available with the 3.8L SOHC V-8, producing 215 SAE net horsepower or the 119 horsepower 3.0L inline-five diesel. Grey market imports pressured Benz into filling out the model lineup when the W126 got its mid-cycle refresh for the '87 model year.
The car in the photo is a 420SEL sedan... we'll call it an '87 ...and that means it's an S-class, fuel-injected ("Einspritzung", for "fuel injected"), long-wheelbase car.
The 4.2L SOHC V-8 with its Bosch EFI produced 201 SAE net horsepower in 1987, which was pretty sporty by the standards of the time. Road & Track put an '87 420SEL through its paces and the 4.2L V-8 managed to shove the 3900-pound sedan to sixty in 8.7 seconds and through the quarter in 16.7 at 86 mph.
This was a pretty deluxe ride for the day. The as-tested price of R&T's 1987 420SEL was $57,500, the equivalent of just short of $160,000 in 2024 monetary terms.
This one was photographed in August of 2024 with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.
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