1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 Kompressor - Jay Leno's Garage

I am a third world dictator how are you welcome to the episode of Jay Leno's Garage you know how I always say this is my favorite car this is my favorite car this is a car I've lusted after since I was a kid this is a mercedes-benz 600 1972 is a model year I worked in a Mercedes Benz dealer when I was in college the biggest thrill of my life was then we had to pick up one of these and either deliver it to a customer or deliver it two or three states away to somebody else it's the most amazing road machine certainly of the 60s and 70s and certainly of all time it's the only worse eighties Benz built without regard to cost you know most cars they figure out how much it's going to cost what do you put in what do you take out when this car was built cost with no object this was the most expensive car when it came out in 1963 was about 22 to $25,000 Rolls Royces weren't even that much it's an amazing Road car it is the largest car ever produced in Europe up to that point so the largest tires of any road car ever produced certainly post-war not since the 5:40 caves in the seven 70s of the mid 30s the custom coachbuilt cars have mercedes-benz built anything like this it has a 6.3 v8 it is 300 horsepower but this had a top speed of a little over 130 miles an hour the car has no electrics the windows the seats the sunroof the trunk everything is hydraulic what that means you have a pump that pumps hydraulic fluid at 300 pounds per square inch it is the most complicated car to restore in the world I did not restore this car this car was restored by a gentleman named Carl middle house he is one of those older German genius guys you know there's a whole generation of guys that grew up in the 30s and 40s be they American or German in the same way you have these kids now that have just this innate sense of how to work computer they were that way with mechanical things and Carl was one of those guys he is a recognized six-hundred expert certainly in America if not the world he has a little place up in Wisconsin where he restores these cars and he did just a beautiful beautiful job when Carl dismantles at 600 he throws nothing away every piece of wood is saved and beautifully refinished all parts are CAD plated even saves the original hose clamps the rubber gaskets the rubber hoses the engine gaskets in fact he's not above restomod e he even made a couple of El Camino style 600 everything to this car is bespoke for the most part each window switch is $11,500 because it has hydraulic lines with seals look how big it is it's basically like a c-class Mercedes x - it is the most comfortable easy handling car the car weighs a little over 5,000 pounds 5,400 pounds maybe usually it's 3 tons when you have passengers and luggage and everything else in it the biggest sunroof of any car I've ever seen beautiful hand laid I mean the wood that's all real wood that's not you know any kind of veneer it's solid wood all the way through the car has a refrigerator in the center console you lift that up that's a refrigerated compartment and it comes with a thermos with little shot glasses the rear seat also reclines and moves also hydraulically and because everything is hydraulic you'll you'll see it the window just goes it's just an amazing automobile disc brakes all the way around you have a big bladder in here right up in here which you have to empty every once or twice a year to get the water out of the system it's a combination of air and hydraulics Plus this car has one secret that did not come from the factory fuel injection and just a big honking supercharger on here yeah so this car puts out about 525 horsepower the only thing I did to it was it was pinging a little bit on California gas so we put a methanol water injection system which is hooked up in the trunk but other than that this is all Carl's genius he did a wonderful job on the car this engine was Germany's answer to the 426 Hemi engine here in America if you know why they were out mercedes-benz you know most of their cars even their luxury cars all six-cylinder cars and dr. Nyland gee I hope and say his name right develop this engine overhead cam 6.3 litres just a massive thing and when this was put in the 6.3 sedan the smaller version of this it was the world's fastest four-door sedan the inside thing is that the company didn't really want to build it so they went often they built it secretly and they put the engine in the small sedan then they had the bosses at mercedes-benz try it in the cars you know the Germans they love that power well that thing just took off and they said I think it's one of the greatest Mercedes of all time this is certainly one of their greatest engines right up there with the gullwing just a massive v8 and it was developed for this car and then put into the smaller 6.3 and I've got one of those two and we'll do a video on one of those later but let's stick to this one right now it was more than ample to to move this thing down the road incredibly complex engine and not particularly efficient gas mileage is how well gas mileage is a you can get into double digits hey you're doing pretty good let's just say that just attention to detail just a fascinating fascinating on it would be able to drive but let's show you some more of the salient points certainly one of the most beautiful interiors of any car you know this is one place where older cars really beat out modern cars because the quality of the leather and the wood this is that real thick German leather that you just don't get anymore as I mentioned the doors and the windows rather in the door are hydraulic because electric motors in the early sixties especially for automotive applications were huge they were too big to drive a window this size if you put a big motor in here then the armrest would have to be it it just restricted ruined they wanted a much room for the for the passenger as possible so they ran these extremely complex hydraulic lines and when one of those leaks oh my god like it's unbelievable oh my god it's unbelievable one of these things leaks how much trouble it isn't how expensive it is to fix so that's the downside the cigar lighter for each person because people smoked like chimneys back then even the even the rear seat this also moves the only noise you hear is the stretching of the leather you have central locking when you lock this door those all lock which was a huge deal in the 60s now that's pretty much time to go peep and they all of it they didn't have that back there you have curtains here for privacy and then of course my favorite part the trunk opens hydraulically and you've got a massive trunk in here California gas with horrible ethanol in it just does not have the octane rating for vehicle like this so we put methanol water injection and it cools the cylinder cools at charge and increases performance as well works amazingly well now you can't close this by hand if you shut this by hand well it's $12,000 front of the hood latch you just press this button here good day Mr Bond one owner actually got his finger broken or cut off or something under what those old wives tales but that's what happened it's a 600 emblem across the Mercedes star everything is oversized on this car and as you can see it says compressor which means supercharger of course in German and I believe this is the only 600 that has this so it makes this car a lot faster than it already is there's a pretty fast car before now it's a really fast car every evil dictator in the world I wanted to chesco EDR mean Aristotle Onassis had what John Lennon had one which I thought was impressive in fact John Lennon's car was bought by a European gentleman I'm not sure maybe Dutch and he sent it back to the factory and to this day I believe it was the most expensive European car ever restored in history because it just took some you know the fun thing about this car as I said all the dictators had this all of them and I was driving this car once up the street here and I see a white-haired man about 7580 I believe he was Iranian if Ike I know he was Iranian and when they pulled him next to me when that because you scared the crap out of me I shot through with this chaw I talked to you what Suffolk agent tracking me down then he started laughing and he thought that was so funny he thought I was a vaca agent for the Shah driving around it as soon as he saw this car it just scared him to death so that this thing kind of instill fear and people wherever it went you know I had to deliver one of these from Boston to Texas and I drove non-stop for like 22 hours 23 hours to Texas I mean I pulled it off his side of the road it would conk out for an hour or two and then get back on and I delivered to the guy and I would do it again tomorrow it's just the greatest car ever to drive cross country because with the pneumatic suspension it literally just it just floats but it but it's firm and it handled I mean it's a wonderful driving car I say I think it drives as well as even a modern 600 or a Maybach or any those cars I mean sure it doesn't have bluetooth and all the the trick stuff and you know the air conditioning seats and all that but as a driving instrument oh just just fantastic Wow let's take it for ride the grace with wish its car Terry I'm the best horn or a boat Holmes a boat horn for a big boat being the fact that you can take a car like this out on a 104 degree gay is the testament to the build quality my temperature exactly 180 degrees just amazing you know I'm glad we had to fix a few small things on this car because it gave me a chance to appreciate the craftsmanship and the workmanship on the car we put a new master cylinder in it did that the other day which was not bad I thought it would be crazy expensive but it wasn't that wasn't too bad Sen Jim Watson is six point three are expensive by normal car parts standards but not expensive by or say t600 standards you know when these cars were built you could get any option you wanted a telephone of course telephone was a huge thing size of it's like a giant suitcase and they had a TV screen you could have a bar you could have anything you wanted on these any kind of upholstery this is the short wheelbase version I know this car seems enormous ly huge but this is a short wheelbase since they made a stretch with animate a six door and a LAN dout with what the Pope had one of those you know you can still find these relatively inexpensively because they just cost a fortune to rebuild so you want to try and get the best one you can that's what I did when I bought this one I looked a lot of six hundreds and then I think you know it's better to spring for the extra to go and get one that Carl had done because as I said he's the recognized expert and you can see it looks and drives and handles oh my god it's like a brand-new car this was I think the best car in the world in the sixties in the 70s the only place it might have gotten beaten was in maybe air conditioning and that kind of thing General Motors Cadillac they had the best air conditioning systems in the world I think still do air conditioning was not a big priority in Germany for obvious reasons so this unit is a bit old-school but everything else brakes four-wheel disc brakes when American cars are all just drums and this big wide seat you know with it's hydraulic controls fantastic but the place to really appreciate this cars from the inside come on hop in we'll take you for right the inside of this car to be a just beautiful stuff with the beautiful wood rim steering wheel they're all solid wood just a beautiful piece this is just full with the back and this is all wood up here as well I mean just beautiful I can't imagine how long it takes to shape that I'm sure it was done by hand as an only be done play this year air conditioning controls here museu - air conditioning vents outside temperature clock speedo tachometer usual gauges water temperature fuel oil oil pressure lights hazard a radio front and back you have a switch here to control the ride little firmer if you want it my favorite part is this here yep refrigerator right in here you see you can have the glass if you wish to entertain the women you have the glass right here don't let the cops see that down here you have this is for your electric antenna and you see this green light here oh my when I put my foot on the gas when you get the revs up that will inject water water combination water mess it all into the cylinder to see that there we go here's your turbo boost right there and your light comes on and shoots a shot of water into kind of cooler combustion chamber and keep it from detonating and you've got all kinds room the fact that look I can't even punch the cameraman in the face he is so far away from me look you can't accuse you of iting in the car you can't I can't even I can't even punch and the other car I could punch him in the face I can't now this thing with metaphor just crossing continents Oh just get on the Autobahn and put your foot in and go I'm gonna have the cameraman hop in the backseat now we'll really show you how big this thing is what you're sitting that far away probably what the finest radio is a time the becquer Grand Prix but way this car really excels is on the open highway this is different than the transmission the normal 6.3 it's beefed up and of course the greatest sunroof in history that's a sunroof you can actually get the entire Sun in that roof cover the guys in the 600 club saves you're not amazed every time you drive this car there's something wrong with it or maybe there's something wrong with you and I gotta agree multi-ton had 25 of these so much for communism as I said before this was a car built money was no object the engineers have given the given the orders to build the best car you can regardless of cost and that's what they did here there's no logical reason why you would put a hydraulic system in running all the all the comfort items like the sunroof and everything there are a lot of big cars from this period that just have no room inside this they've managed to compact everything in a large car so you have a lot of room this thing is like it it is UV in here you know this w series of Mercedes the 100 the 109s all that this is my favorite era now I don't know whether it's because I work for Mercedes Benz when I was a kid and I really bonded with the brand because I got to drive them and work on them and understand them and they seemed so exotic I never thought I'd be able to afford one of these cars I like the new ones very much of course and of course they are better cars and safer and faster but there's something about this era this the quality of this car it's incredibly complex yet in some ways it's incredibly simple too you know when you see one that's done right it's the greatest thing in the world and when you see one of these it's done wrong over stored poorly they sit down on the suspension and they usually have some cheap reupholstery job because it's expensive to do this to find this kind of leather a lot of times the refrigerator doesn't work and believe me you don't want a car where the refrigerator doesn't work this car had the longest run of any Mercedes that ran from 1963 to 1981 the bid they built two hundred twenty six hundred and seventy seven of these cars two thousand six hundred and seventy seven of these cars 1932 and 1972 rather they built 138 two came to United States so they took a long time to build they didn't build that many of them these were settled the last of the hand-built coachbuilt mercedes-benz much is the way the coach built cars in the 30s were built this represents that same level of dedication and craftsmanship well I should see this guy's about as different from the McLaren p1 as you can get but as I said earlier it doesn't make it any less enjoyable to drive you know this websites all about unique driving experiences and to me this is one of the greatest you know it's a it's a mixture of nostalgia I remember when I was a kid plus it's so technically amazing for its period it's just a wonderful wonderful automobile ok look a chance to ride in one of these take it so we'll see you guys next week

Channel: Jay Leno's Garage

Views: 4,367,407

Rating: 4.8957868 out of 5

Keywords: Jay Leno, Jay Leno's Garage, car reviews, compares cars, classic cars, vintage cars, sports cars, super cars, cars, car gear, McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder, Camaro Z28, jay leno's garage, nbc jay leno's garage, jay lenos garage, jay leno karl middelhauve, jay leno mercedes, 1967 mercedes-benz 600 kompressor, watch jay leno's garage, jay leno 1967 mercedes-benz 600 kompressor

Id: 4LnHdWgLlFI

Length: 18min 56sec (1136 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 28 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/sleevieb]

I think it is so strange that he supercharged this. He usually has such respect for these kind of cars original engineers.

[u/HondaJunkie]

Made me think of when Top Gear drove the Mercedes Grosser

[u/Bamres]

I love these so much! My ride of choice when I violently take control of a small nation:)

[u/imjustsomeucsdkid]

What's the difference between the 600 Grosser and the 600 Kompressor?

[u/funkdenomotron]

Awesome car. Great color too.

[u/[deleted]]

Absolutely love these videos

[u/Chucky332]

Best car ever made. This is a fact.

[u/IAmTurdFerguson]

Jay seems really old in this video. Kind of hard for me to watch.

[u/eneka]

The lopsided emblem on the steering wheel bugged me so bad.