In 1981, this 500 SEL came off the production line in Germany and was first approved for export to Japan. The first owner was an artist from Osaka, Japan, who had the S-Class delivered to her home in the Far East on her own expense. At that time, the female owner, a stone sculptor, would have had to wait for a year for the car to be official exported by Daimler-Benz to Japan.
In Japan, the owner drove around her Benz as a luxury sedan on the streets. In late 1985 the Japanese owner decided on a conversion to have the SEL into a ‘Shooting Brake’. The first of its kind in the world. Just because Mercedes-Benz never intended the W126 SEL to be a wagon, this Japanese owner thought why not.
Then the owner decided to have the car rebuilt to a nice estate coupe. The re-engineering was great. At the end of March, the presented the car at the world’s largest classic car fair, the Techno Classica in Essen. “The reactions of the audience were insanity. Incredible!”
