A Mercedes-Benz SL600, seen in 2013 in front of a hotel slash apartment complex in central Beijing. The good SL600 was in perfect shape, painted in silver with slightly darkened windows, original five-spoke alloys, and black license plates. On the right an Mercedes-Benz S600 sedan.
The R129 SL-Class was produced from 1989 until 2002 with a facelift in 1996. This particular car is a facelifted example. The SL600 was the top of the line, except for a few very rare AMG variants.
Power came from a ‘M120’ 6.0 liter V12 with an output of 390hp and 540nm. The R129 was never officially exported to China so seeing one on the road is very special. Over the many years I have lived in China I have only seen like two hand-fulls. One day, they will all be on this website.
The V12 badge above the air vents on the front fender.
In the background a squad of four Mercedes-Benz Viano vans, used by the hotel for ferrying VIP guests. There were, and still are, many Chinese companies modifying these vans, taking them to a luxury level the Germans never could imagine, with DVD television screens and all-leather interiors and whatnot more.
Note the BMW L7, the Cadillac Brougham, and my electric Luyuan scooter in the background. More on all these vehicles in later posts.
The famous black license plates were issued to foreign owned companies from the 1980’s to the mid 00’s. These companies could buy a car locally or import one.
There were no limits on the number of cars or on price or on engine type. The numbering started at A·00001 and then up. So the lower the number the older the car. This SL600 has 京A·16277. Each province and municipality had its own black-license plate program.
As you can see, the license plate spaces of this particular example are too narrow for the Chinese plates, indicating it was originally sold in the United States and later in its life somehow ended up in China.
The R129 Mercedes-Benz SL600, one of the prettiest cars Merc’ ever made, and oh-so rare in China. Hopefully it is still around and alive somewhere in China today.