One-off 600SL owned by Sultan of Brunei

The R129 SL is famed for its association with AMG, picked by MB to be the first model to be produced in collaboration with the tuning company. A decision that would determine the Mercedes-Benz brand’s future success across both the performance and every-day vehicle segments. This emerging relationship is almost as well known as the association between the R129 SL, the Mercedes-Benz brand and the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

For those of you that don’t know, Brunei is a tiny nation situated on the same island of Malaysia and Borneo. Knowledge of this small nation’s existence in the West can quite possibly be solely attributed to the 29th Sultan of Brunei, infamous for his appetite for luxury items, most of which were cars. In the 1990s, the Sultan purchased thousands of vehicles at the detriment of the people of Brunei, spending billions of dollars on special editions and bulk model orders from Mercedes, Jaguars, Ferrari and Rolls Royce. You name it, he had and his entourage had it.

This particular 600SL was exactly that. Ordered as Black (040) on Black, the R129 was then repainted in BMW ‘’Violet Blue Metallic’’, the colour you see here. With less than 3,000km since new, we can surmise that the vehicle was barely used and these miles were most likely carried out here in the UK.

This 600SL was sent to us by its new owner, commissioning a Vehicle Health Check to uncover the condition of the vehicle. To showcase the process and ‘smiles per gallon’ this SL evokes, we put together a short film to capture the Vehicle Health Check. Over the coming weeks we’ll uncovering as much of the vehicle’s story as possible, with a hope that you’ll find equal excitement in the future of the R129 SL model.