The Mercedes-Benz SEC luxury coupés of the 140 model series entered the automotive world stage 30 years ago with a self-confident design as another top model in the brand's passenger car range alongside the S-Class. These sporty touring cars were based on the luxury saloons of the 140 model series, but stood out more clearly in terms of style than the coupés and saloons of the previous 126 model series. "The new SEC coupés offer very little resistance to the wind, and all the more to fashionable uniformity. After all, if you are a technological leader, you must also be a role model in terms of design," stated the sales brochure from the premiere year.
In 1992, the 600 SEC was the most expensive series-produced car made in Germany. In February 1992, it cost DM 220,020.00 with its opulent equipment - excluding other optional extras. In 2022, the SEC coupés are among the exclusive first contenders for the H license plate, which cars can receive 30 years after their first registration.
A short time later, the luxury coupés were technological pioneers with the introduction of the ESP® Electronic Stability Program, among other things: The pioneering assistance system was developed by Mercedes-Benz together with Bosch, was presented as a world premiere in coupés of the 140 model series in 1994 and experienced its market launch in the exclusive two-door touring cars in 1995. As with the S-Class saloons, the development of the coupé also focused on comfort and safety.
This ranged from the double-glazed windows for optimum acoustics and seat belts with belt tensioners to the electric seat adjustment (with memory function as standard in the 600 SEC) and automatic climate control with separate zones for driver and front passenger (standard in the 600 SEC) to the elaborately tuned suspension: This consisted of a newly developed double-wishbone front axle, decoupled from the body in terms of vibration, and a fundamentally reworked space-link rear axle in terms of wheel guidance.
The 600 SEC in particular left hardly anything to be desired with its standard equipment. In a comparative test of twelve-cylinder coupés in issue 3/1993, the specialist magazine "auto motor und sport" wrote about the top-of-the-range model: "The Mercedes may not be the king of the country road, but it is the undisputed master of driving comfort. Noise, suspension, seats, air conditioning, each an optimum, add up to a comfort level far above that of the two twelve-cylinder competitors."
Debut in Detroit and Geneva 30 years ago
The elegant two-door models made their world debut at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit from January 11 to 19, 1992. The European debut followed at the Geneva Motor Show from March 5 to 15, 1992. Initially, the two 500 SEC variants (V8 engine with 4.973 cubic centimeters of displacement and 235 kW/320 hp) and 600 SEC (V12 engine with 5,987 cubic centimeters of displacement and 290 kW/394 hp) were initially offered. The engines corresponded to the respective S-Class saloons of the 140 model series. From 1994, a third model with a 4.2-litre four-valve V8 engine was added to the luxury coupé model range. By this time, however, these no longer bore the designation SEC, but were referred to as S-Class Coupés following the introduction of the new Mercedes-Benz nomenclature for all passenger car model series in June 1993. From 1996 until the end of production in 1998, the elegant two-door models were finally called the CL-Class.
The fact that the SEC coupés deserved their proud price is made clear not least by the reviews of the two-door models in the international media: "Fit for a king (and fetching a princely sum)", wrote the specialist magazine "Road & Track" in its April 1993 issue ("Fit for a king [and fetching a princely sum]") about the Mercedes-Benz 600 SEC. The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" even paid tribute to the same model in March 1993 as the "Emperor of the Autobahn" in a driving report entitled "His Majesty the Coupé will do the honors". However, the author also paid tribute to the dynamics of the large coupé: "Surprisingly nimble, the voluminous car weaves its way around the bends [on the country road] as if it only weighed half as much."
This combination of luxurious elegance and sporty performance inspires enthusiasts of the brand just as much today as it did 30 years ago. A total of exactly 26,022 coupés of the 140 model series were built at the Sindelfingen plant within six years. Almost a third of these were the top-of-the-range V12 model (8,573 vehicles). Significantly more than half of the customers opted for the variant with the 5-liter V8 engine (14,953 vehicles).
