This is a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG. Designed by Erich Waxenbacker, the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG was a heavily-revised version of the 300 SEL 6.3 intended for racing.
The 300 SEL 6.3 which spawned the 6.8 began as part of a private venture started by Waxenberger; he described Mercedes-Benz's cars as "great but not very exciting" and decided to take the V8 engine from the 600 and fit it into the engine bay of the top-end 300 SEL. Waxenberger invited Mercedes-Benz leadership such as Rudolf Uhlenhaut to test what was this unassuming looking car, leaving them impressed with Uhlenhaut greenlighting the project.
Unveiled at the 1968 Geneva Motor Show, the 300 SEL 6.3 enhanced Mercedes-Benz's reputatiin for performance vehicles. Feeling it had a penchant for racing, a small tuning company named AMG took the car and modified it for racing; the result was the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG, unveiled at the 1971 24 Hours of Spa. The main differences between the 6.3 and the 6.8 was that its M100 V8 had been bored out to 6.8L and now made 422 hp, the car was significantly lightened and had a strengthened chassis and brakes.
5 chassis were built. Sporting a bright red livery and nicknamed "Rote Sau" (lit. "red pig"), the 300 SEL 6.8 AMGs took second place overall and a class victory at the 1971 24 Hours of Spa. Their racing career as a whole however was relatively short lived due to a lack of suitable tires and repeated rule changes effectively obsoleting them. One car was sold to Matra where it was used for testing of landing gear for jet aircraft; since then the car was likely scrapped, although Mercedes-Benz built a faithful replica in 2006 on display in the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
Now this casting was designed by Mark Jones and introduced in 2021. This casting has seen four known releases, the last being this one in 2026.
