Number of cylinders: 8
Service history: Present
Registration number: 74-TK-SX

Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse 500E, 1992. Two owners, 154,372 km, service books from new.

There's a category of car you only understand once you know what's lurking under the bonnet. Take the W124. A meek looking saloon, a taxi in real life, the darling of accountants and GPs happy to rack up the miles. Sober German solidity, built to survive half a million kilometres and only then start to warm up a little. The kind of car nobody gives a second glance. And that is precisely where the joke lies.

Because in the early '90s, Mercedes-Benz had a problem. The M5 was out there, BMW's straight-sixes were snarling, and Stuttgart had nothing to fire back with. So they rang the neighbours. Not just any neighbours: Porsche, in Zuffenhausen. And there, in the halls where they normally screw 911s together, the ordinary E-Class was unscrewed and re-educated into something that on paper was still called a saloon but in practice absolutely was not.

The 500E. Hand-built at Porsche, with a 5.0 V8 pressing 326 hp beneath that respectable bonnet. The body had to go wider, the wings were flared out to house the fatter tyres, and the whole thing dropped a couple of centimetres closer to the tarmac. The production process was so convoluted that each car literally travelled back and forth between Mercedes and Porsche twice. Eighteen days of build time per unit. That's not a car, that's a craft with number plates.

The story continues on our website, where the full file is kept as well. 113 photographs including the underside. The service history, scanned in full. The Carfax report. Paint thickness measured panel by panel. The original factory brochure to page through. A timeline from 25 May 1992 to today, with every owner and the mileage year by year in a single graph.

Every car here follows the same route: first pre-market, then the showroom, and finally the live auction on our own site. What changes is the way you buy, not the location — once a car has arrived, it stays with us in Katwijk. This one is in the showroom and you are welcome to come and see it, no appointment needed. You buy it here at a fixed price: no bidding, no waiting. Our showroom in Katwijk, 30 km from Amsterdam Schiphol, is open Mon–Fri 9–18 and Sat 10–17. Call ahead and it will be standing ready, with someone free for you.

Within the EU no customs duty arises on this purchase. Registration tax and registration costs in your own country are not included. We supply the export documents and assist with the registration. The price shown is the full price for collection in Katwijk. We arrange insured door-to-door transport worldwide, cost quoted per destination beforehand.

Prefer a different colour or specification than this example? Tell us what you are looking for — another Mercedes-Benz we can often find through our network of marque specialists and collectors, outside the listings. Have one of your own: we buy exceptional cars outright, classic or modern.

Our showroom measures 6,000 m², with over 150 cars under one roof. You are just as welcome if you are not buying — walk around, take your time and enjoy the cars; sharing the enthusiasm is half of it.