BACK IN the 1970s many regarded Rolls-Royce and Bentley the best saloons on offer, but there was another school of thought that drifted to the Mercedes-Benz stable, ticking the box of the magnificent 450SEL 6.9.
This was the high-performance version of the S-Class luxury saloon, built on its own assembly line and launched at the Geneva Motor Show in 1974.
The production run of this amazing extravaganza of excellence lasted until 1981 but it was made in extremely limited numbers because of its sky-high pricetag.
Equipped with ground-breaking new technology of the day, including electronically-controlled anti-lock brakes and self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension it was an exercise in what some of the best automotive brains of the time were capable of if given free rein.
It was immensely heavy at 1,935kg but the V8 powerhouse could whirl it up to 140mph with a 0-60mph sprint factor of 7.4 seconds.
The engine utilised sodium-filled valves, similar to those used in piston-driven aircraft, and each hand-built unit was bench-tested for 265 minutes, 40 of which were under full load.
With 286bhp on tap it used dry sump lubrication, a system originally developed for use in race cars as a way to prevent foaming of the engine oil by the crankshaft, which in turn would create a serious drop in oil pressure.
The system circulated twelve quarts of oil between the storage tank and the engine, as opposed to the usual four or five quarts found in V8s with a standard oil pan and oil pump.
Some journalists testing the car managed 150mph which was amazing for the day. But at more than £20,000 it cost twice as much as a Jaguar XJ12 and could only manage around 16mpg.
There were never any plans to build an estate but some examples were converted by German and British coachbuilders.
The list of options also included an item that was still a great rarity in the 1970s but available from Mercedes-Benz as a matter of course - a car phone. The phone conversion cost the sort of money that would have bought two small cars at the time.
A total of 7,380 cars were were built and most of these were exported to the USA. Most were acquired by politicians, industrialists and showbiz stars.