|
The Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 Invented an Entire Genre of Car — BTS with DTS — Ep. 9
Today, it’s a given that there are many sedans available that are as quick as a Porsche 911 or Ferrari. In the 1960s, that idea was so inconceivable that no one had even conceived of conceiving of it. That one should be invented by a company whose reputation was for making trucks and boring cars for old people was all the more shocking, especially considering Mercedes-Benz didn’t even have a sports car of any type in their model line, let alone one whose pace could match a 911 or a 330 GTC. And the damn thing only existed because one engineer made one on his own time and then when the director of production heard it drive by his office late one night, he managed to get the Board of Directors to approve its production, thus creating the searingly fast, understated sedan model which we continue to enjoy to this day. In this video, Derek Tam-Scott recounts the extraordinary story of the 6.3, including its improbable success as a race car, and delivers a surprising verdict about what the car is capable of on the road.
|
