Ep. 3 - 1969 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 - Mercedes-Benz Classics with Pierre Hedary
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Mercedes-Benz Classics with Pierre Hedary Episode 3: 1969 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3
Every Tuesday and Saturday, we strive to provide you the best in the business. Moving toward our TH-cam channel’s third year of Classic Mercedes-Benz videos, we want to provide more of the content you’ve asked for from us.
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EXPERIENCE THE CLASSICS WITH PIERRE HEDARY
What are The Classics? Pierre Hedary’s Mercedes-Benz viewer requested videos, featuring Pierre’s best tips and commentaries. We let you feel the excitement we feel, as Mercedes Benz everyday drivers.
The Classics will feature videos that reveal the best intricate details, while actually taking these beautiful cars on the road. Viewers experience the virtual ride along to observe the Mercedes Classic automobile’s interior, exterior, and its beautiful handling.
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In 1971 on my wedding in Hamburg, my uncle came up from Frankfurt in his new 6.3 and he let me have the car for one afternoon. I was blown away driving it and nearly forgot my new wife at the reception! What a car and thanks for a great video!
Terrific! Never, ever have I seen a master mechanic actually "milk" an SEL. Until now.
The thing about the 6.3 300 SEL that impressed me most was that this car went for DECADES as being the best four door sedan you could buy. I remember when Road & Track tested the car and said "merely the best sedan ever made". Phil Hill owned and drove one since new and could never find anything better to replace it with. Even today, there is nothing as impressive to drive or ride in as the original 6.3 300 SEL.
If I would suddenly hit the lottery, I would not go for a Italian super car I would go for this or a 600
Easily one of the *very best* automotive technical reviews I've ever seen and about a vehicle which truly deserves the most lavish detail.
I have had a 6.3 for more than 20 years and I think it's a very reliable car. In those two decades of ownership, I have only needed to rebuild the air compressor and water-pump. The air-bellows where old when I bought the car, but amazingly they are still holding air and the air-valves are still fine. So the notorious air-suspension has not been giving me any problems. I bought a set of new bellows early on, but I want to see how long the old ones will last :) Driving the car regularly, not neglecting maintenance, these cars will be a pleasure to own.
Thanks for the 6.3 report and compliments on the video, much better quality than before.
Wow 20 yrs !. Makes me feel better for owning this one. Has been a blast driving it so far and I hope with Pierre's expert services to keep this for a very long time.
superficial cracks in bellows are ok.....from the service manual.
The way this video was put togather and the quality of its content is on par with the quality of that 6.3 Pierre has such a passion for these cars I could see him doing this in his 80's and 90's
We are lucky to Pierre and his passion for these cars. Great stuff.
thank you!
MUCH better! The appeal aside from the car is the “Pierre Hedary” commentary. You explained everything one needs to know when considering acquiring one. My father-in-law was the lead mechanic and later shop foremen at the San Antonio M-B dealership. He was the only one allowed near the 300SEL 6.3 and 600. He reputation was so strong a crippled 6.3 was trailered from Mexico City to San Antonio.
Does he still live in San Antonio ?. Would love to meet him !.
He no longer lives in SA
The best thing mercedes ever did was the way they paid attention to detail.
No car door closes like a benz. I love my car and would never trade it for a new one.
Old is gold
Oh how this touches my heart. I had a mere 300SEL 3.5, and I’ll never stop longing for that astonishingly beautiful interior, and stately profile. Thank you, Pierre.
3.5 is a wonderful car....balanced, efficient, what happened to yours?
I sold it to an airline pilot who had full appreciation of this grand automobile. Arizona car, corrosion free, the expense of keeping it, however, was not in the budget at that time in my life. I remember taking my sister to California one time. We inadvertently would up on the notorious Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. That 12 year old car turned heads. It was astonishing. My sister turned to me and said, “All this prestige for the price of a VW Rabbit!” I never forgot that. Your videos are addicting, Pierre. You could make anything interesting, and I particularly enjoy your refusal to modify away from the original. An unfortunate color needs acceptance for the wonder of everything that’s under it.
I entered my 6.3 in the five day 2000km Targa Tasmania in 1994.
Spectators said that it together with the Ferrari F40 it was the fastest in climbing hils and it soundrd like somthing from hell..
The quality of this video is insane
This one deserves to be watched in 4k, bandwidth be damned.
I own a 1969 300 SEL 6.3 (the beast) in a very rare, but original 2-tone color paint code 387 H/180 G, which makes the car even look flatter through that silver roof. I own that car since 14 years and it never gave me problems, maybe I was lucky buying it from a vintage Mercedes shop owner in SC, which tinkered for 3 years on the engine, so it's running perfectly! I agree with all Pierre's comments and of course, I had to work on the air suspension, repaired 2 of the valves and might repair the 2 other ones some time, but it never was a real problem, and there is one valve repair expert out there, Martin Werminghausen, a German engineer in Boston, who even produces the little inside parts. But as Pierre said, this air suspension is extraordinary and compensates everything, even the slow-down road bumpers in my neighborhood (just joking-not really)!
This car keeps up with modern driving and cruising in luxury (w/o the nowadays over-engineered electronic) - keeps up with a Porsche 911 of that time in acceleration! They called it the banker's rod, because you could cruise with your family in luxury, but also hot-rod it. It was the greatest and fastest sedan in the world 1969 - based on Road&Track Nov 1968 original article, which I also own.
I will have tears in my eyes, when I have to part from it, but I am in an age, where I have to think about it!
Gosh I miss old Mercedes. Brilliant interiors. One day I’ll own a perfect W123 that I grew up with.
No words for such a beautiful sleeper 😍🔥
This video is by far your best work. Pierre, you are a natural and talented presenter. Go get yourself an agent..
You can tell Pierre is an enthusiast. He always looks happiest when he’s out, on the road with some of the finest automobiles in the world, doing what he loves
Well done Pierre and Team! Masterful work gentlemen.
your 6.9 is waiting in tampa, Jim!
For me, the 6.3 M100 in the coupe body would have been the high point. The leather in this car is the most stylish of any car, stunning
I love your enthusiasm - truly inspiring !
Lol “evil in its composure”
Great Line.
Who is the cowardly, sorry, sob who gave this video a thumbs down???
Pierre, your videos give me a whole new appreciation for the marque that I already so deeply admire. Thank. You.
Ryan Clifford haha right?! Thank you!
Holy crap this was amazing!!!! Now I want one.
$$$ and then more $$$$$$$
Mercedes Classics with Pierre Hedary - nah I am good with what I got :)
Sooooo jealous! That is one beautiful car, absolutely love the colour combination and that sound 🥰
Yet another great video. Wow, what a machine! So happy that this classic was restored for future generations. Beautiful. Looking forward to your next video!
just sorted, not restored
@@mercedesclassicswithpierre1753 Understood. Either way, it's a wonderful machine that's been kept alive. Love your videos. I need to increase my Patreon donation amount! Don't know if you've been asked before, but I bet there are a lot of us out here that would love to see you do a video on those frustrating "door checks" that pop and crack, and eventually break. Thanks again, my friend. You're awesome.
Phenomenal presentation 👏
Pierre, I noticed your channel after being recommended your 22min video of the W126 300SD. I have watched your videos with much enthusiasm and joy ever since. These kinds of videos are just excellent and give a unique take on these cars that other similar videos on YT cannot. Your love and knowledge of these cars really comes through in the videos and your eloquent and sometimes humorous commentary adds to the high quality production. Please make more of these videos, maybe simpler production, maybe a little bit shorter as I understand you've got more family commitments now. These are the videos that I think will introduce more viewers to your channel and will be the jewels of Pierre Hedary YT channel.
Man, fantastic car. Thank you for the video.
Great video Pierre. Hats off to the videographer. You have me excited and at the same time a little apprehensive of what I found in the forest:)
you'll be fine. you work with hundred plus year old wood. everything else pales in comparison
@@mercedesclassicswithpierre1753 to be honest I can't wait to get my hands on it:)
Please make more of these videos! are amazing!
These showcases have quickly become some of the best classic Mercedes videos on TH-cam. Love the single-car format.
I look forward to more content, esp. the Sacco classic era, i.e. W201, W124, W126, R129.
300sdl is next!
@@mercedesclassicswithpierre1753 Pierre what books would you recommend on classic Mercedes? Not so much a service manual, more the history, ethos, philosophy, culture, etc. I already have "Mercedes Benz W124: The Complete Story" but am open to suggestions!
What a beautiful job and spectacular vehicle! Really have enjoyed this video from you guys.
I hear the unalloyed love and admiration in this video. I grew up with my dad’s 1962 W111 220Sb followed by the W108 250SE four-speed. Friends in high school with their era muscle cars could not believe ANY car beside a Beetle had a “134 cubic inch engine”! The 6.3 appeared in Dallas in 1968. Well-healed friends of my parents bought a few. Road & Track magazine ran a road test. The 600-sourced M100 made the sedate 109 as fast in the quarter/mile as a contemporary Corvette 427! WTF? A Benz sedan??? That was enduring mystique. The shy, studious girl suddenly became a bad-ass Super Model that kicked butt. The spell still lingers.
Best video of the day. By far, this outdoes it for me than just about any other Mercedes video on TH-cam that I can think of.
thank you for such a high order compliment
We used to drive down to Florida every year for vacation. We stayed in Augustine, Cocoa, Ormond beach, Fort Myers, the Keys, everywhere. We wanted to move there so we checked out most of the state. Lol. I love Florida. Besides up here in MD the beach hotels are $250+ a night; in Florida you can score $60/night and go to the free beaches which are everywhere.
Another nice presentation
There's no other sound comparable to the thunk of a Mercedes door
Great job. Truly. I love these longer form videos. The higher end photography is glorious and thankfully your guy did good work keeping the audio nice and clear. AND Fortunately Florida man managed a fly-by cameo! :-)
I would love to do a video like this on my 500SEC when I am next in Florida, but not until I have it cosmetically as nice as it deserves to be. She needs some paint correction and a detailer who is an expert with the buffing wheel.
trust me- yours is beyond good enough. this was not a perfect car by any stretch.
Awesome video! Thank you for the knowledge and the effort.
Great video Pierre! I've got my interview with Mercedes-Benz of North Palm beach coming up soon!
good luck!!! i am cheering for you
What an awesome video! Like the deep dives
This is the kind of video that I love to see. Such detail and what a great story! Beautifully produced and such a beautiful car! Thank you, Pierre! Your enthusiasm for this kind of excellence and perfection is wonderful.
We really appreciate you Joseph Valdora for viewing our videos and leaving a comment. I tried to read as many as I can and take your responses for consideration on future videos.
Thomas Polk
TH-cam Creator.
@@mercedesclassicswithpierre1753 Thomas, I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize your efforts in so masterfully capturing this presentation! Thank you as well!
In 1969 US sent astronauts to the moon and the Germans manufacture the 300 SEL 6.3 what a year!!! great video Pierre, Thanks........
the most beautiful mercedes ever made... and in a lovely burgandy on tan interior . doesn't get better than that.
Stunning car
Excellent videography and a great tribute to a true classic.
Awesome video. I learned a lot about the 6.3. Pierre, I hope you do more informative car tours like this. Your passion really shows through here.
I had a 1969 Euro 6.3 for a couple of years. One of my life's bigger mistakes! LOL.... :-) It was for sure a grand ole thing, but the expense far exceeded the prestige! I'm glad I know what it's like, but I won't do it again.
And...at speed...counter-steering became a way of life.
Feel like crying, the new cars don't have souls like these Mercs
That is a wonderful presentation for a wonderful car done by a wonderful guy.That is all I had to say.
Voted by the MBZ Engineers as the last of the great Benz's. At least what I heard on the Internet...
116 126
Excellent work in showcasing such a beast of an era of Mercedes Benz. I love that bumper guard in front I want one for my 66’ 230s
thank you
"The tickets are paid in food stamps", that was gold.
Man when you chuckled about staying on top of the air suspension and the brakes I got PTSD flashbacks of bottoming out while simultaneously crashing into the back wall of my garage in mine.
Having watched this video and others of the 300SEL 6.3, have reminded me of how that's another one of my all-time top favorite Mercedes Benzes. I saw a few vids on some '72s and '73 SELs that are 300SEL 4.5s, which to me are just not quite the same without that 6.3. I wonder how some of those later 300SELs became 4.5s unless, the 6.3 was dropped in '72&1/2 for emissions purposes, because there have been 280SEL 4.5s.
Anyway, I'd love to have a 300SEL 6.3 for myself but I don't know if I'd ever afford one, nor would I know if I'd ever know all of the maintenances to keep on it. I'm also intimidated by what's pointed out as far as costs and maintenance. Silver is still the most ideal color to me and a good one, even up in Washington State where I live, is easily seen going for $70,000+ even on Craigslist.
Nice job Thomas! What an amazing video. When I watch these special feature videos I link my iPhone with my tv and watch it there.
I really enjoy hearing how great the car is and it’s well engineered features. In September’18 I bought my 1975 450SEL from Cincinnati OH. I ALMOST bought one of these from Florida but I hesitated because of the gas mileage. I wasn’t sure I could use it as my grocery and errands getter. Now I’m really regretting that decision. I do love my SEL, but look what I could have had. Ugggghhh!
The car was a beautiful light blue on a white leather interior. I’m fastidious about keeping my cars clean. I have children but I raise them like you respect people’s things, kid adapt to things not the other way around. The car even had the pointy front lights like this one does. It had 77K miles I think. It was offered for sale around $8,000. If I see it for sale again I’m going after it, no matter what.
was it a 6.3 or a 280sel 4.5?
Mercedes Classics with Pierre Hedary 4.5
I think.
When are they going to make a chick flick about the one that got away, car wise? Lol
well done and fantastic information
1969 " fastest 4 door car in the world when new !" ( amazing )
Good work Pierre
Very well done video Pierre...from a W113 owner more please! :)
Fantastic !!!
A car I am happy to appreciate from afar I couldn't afford to get into this but man they're cool. I'll stick to my CL 500 😅
Awesome!
You make that car look small. Great job Pierre.
Hahah Florida man on his swamp copter dropping his drugs in the swap during a Pierre video
And I thought that the Florida man that Pierre referred to was Mr. Big T!
Very impressive review of the 6.3 Pierre!
I miss driving that and it was always more fun than driving a 560SEC. Basically a luxurious freight train on wheels.
Very Nice!
I just discovered your channel yesterday, great content! Besides my 560SL, I am so tempted for these 6.3 and 6.9!
I just remembered that in '76 my brother and I went to Road America, the MBCA rented it for the weekend. I had a ride in a '65 Shelby Cobra running chase behind a 6.3, the driver of the Cobra would have had a very hard time staying with that 6.3 if not for the chicanes the club members had to go through so street drivers didn't get out of hand.
Awesome
Awesome car my friend 👌🏽🇩🇪
Absolute grail car. Heads up, though - "bellows" is a plural noun that, like scissors, can't be made singular. (insert "the more you know" gif...)
Bravo Pierre!!! Thomas and your associates! Great film work team. I wonder Pierre if you could do the same for the 6.9? Your history and mechanical information is invaluable!! I have always been a Car guy, I got the lumps in the throat because of the Oregon plates because that's my home state and the 6.3 was the first Mercedes v8 that I ever read in with an employer that I couldn't figure out why the trees and guard rails on the highway were always a blurry. I had test driven Porsche's and knew why , but this was an experience! Then of course I got the 6.9 whose drive was as fast but unreal!! I was driving by cars and couldn't feel anything but felt like I was in cloud
It's not done yet but one these days it will be... Great post I'd like to see a completed 6.9 article as only you can give it
9
.
A video on the 6.9 is needed. TH-cam has pretty much zilch for that car.
well, when we finish yours....
This could have been a discovery channel programme (from the times discovery was real and good) truely amzing video!
Brilliant video and loverly camera shots.
Excellent video! Very well made and a fascinating insight. Pierre's presentation is refreshing amongst TH-cam car content, none of the witless bombast of the supercar buying brigade. A class act
I love the tunes.
Thankfully, Kent did not get ahold of this car and scrap it!
it was from the PNW, by the way
@@mercedesclassicswithpierre1753 I noticed.... pity I didn't find it before you!
I saw one of these hanging out abandoned on an industrial estate today. It's in a bit of a rough state, but the chrome parts are nearly perfect. You don't want to know how tempted I am to see if it's up for sale to attempt to restore it. Though I don't have any experience with car restoration at all.
Fantastic video.
I'm looking to buy one and I'm glad you mentioned the maintenance part and the costs associated to it as that would have escaped me. I still want one, but will not underestimate the attention it will need.
Saawan (London, UK)
I’m going to save this homage to the 300 SEL 6.3! This Mercedes-Benz is the example an era of grandeur in the motor industry! In Costa Rica where I live the only stallion similar to this 300 SEL was the 450 SEL 6.9 that the widow of an exiled president of El Salvador owned. However, this was during the early 1980’s. Since then, I have never seen it again!
fascinating, these hidden cars in central america
Mercedes Classics with Pierre Hedary And belonging to widows of ousted presidents...
Great production value!
dream car.
Dual points don't change the spark duration. Dual points increase the time the coil core has to saturate which gives a hotter spark when the last set of points open.
Whoa i love all the information - well done video, im subbing to you for more!
By all means, you are mixing up some facts: this is not MY69 due to details like shifter position, power window buttons, middle console etc. Its rather 70 or even 71. Also the dual points distributor has nothing to do with fail safe, it's a technical limitation because of the dwell angle. Likewise, the 6.3 never had any hoodpad - no W109 or W018 does. None of them do have a anti-dive system on the front (only a sway bar front and rear plus an anti-lift mechanism at the rear). The bump stops you mention are only to be used in emergency, when the air ride system has failed. Nevertheless, nice vid and great car (I own one myself)
I would like your expert advice prior to choosing an available classic Mercedes, I'm viewing the available Mercedes prior to 1989 available in Honolulu craigslist. I have a goal of choosing a car that I will restore and drive daily and eventually leave it to a family member. The cars I see available are a 1981 300D, 1982 300tdt, 1972 280SE 4.5, all 3 are cars with character. There are a few convertibles available . Could I contact Pierre? Also, I would have no problem supporting Patreon as well as I will need a trustworthy source of Q&A. I've been thru this with my old 300TDT, 3 other Mercedes and BMW 325!c and 72 VW fastback. I understand the value of expert mechanical advise. Please let me know the best way to move forward. Why drive a new car......your philosophy on the future analog vehicles is spot on!
That bull bar terrible, awesome car
great improve in quality man!!!!! please dont do videos like the old ones again! haha
Cheers from Argentina!
Hear what they used to call in those past years the colors of the interiors ((cognac)). How classy you are, who lived during that era
She's absolutely gorgeous...
Makes my 116 350 looks like a toy! haha
Bad ass
Another impractical magnificent automobile to park next to your Packard.
Love them but hate the US side lights and indicators....
Upon rewatching I noticed the replacement ventilation levers. Those colored plastic are a time consuming to replace.
Take off that bull bar ..
Agree.
@@peterfountas6435 much needed in texas
There is a fascinating doc with the tests & graphs of brakes and everything else on this car, I remember reading it with thirst. How different is a 6.9? I have a 350SE so I'm waiting for that
the 6.9 is a smoother car to drive. not as fast, but easier to maintain with no valve adjustments.
@@mercedesclassicswithpierre1753 Not even over 70mph? I mean I want a video with one