Production began in 1964 and almost 600 variants were built through 1972. The oil crisis, as well as the introduction of new S-Class models, slowed demand. Modest production continued until 1981. During this time, 2,677 vehicles were made.
The 600 came in two main variants:
- A short wheelbase 4-door sedan, available with a power divider window separating the front seats from the rear bench seat.
- A long wheelbase 4-door Pullman limousine (with two additional rear-facing seats separated from the driver compartment by a power divider window, of which three were built), and a 6-door limousine (with two forward-facing jump-seats at the middle two doors and a rear bench-seat).
A few of the limousines were made as landaulets with a convertible top over the rear passenger compartment. These were notably used by the Pope and the German government, as during the 1965 visit of Queen Elizabeth II, when she was accompanied by Kurt Georg Kiesingerin open-top tour in Baden-Württemberg. Production of this model ended in 1980.
Mercedes also made two coupés, one as a gift retirement for Dr. Rudolf Uhlenhaut, one of the model's three designers. A third was constructed from a 600 SWB by Karl Middelhauve and Associates.
A single example of a 4-door landaulet combining the handling of a short-wheelbase with the qualities of a landaulet, was built by Mercedes in 1967 for former racing driver Count von Berckheim.
The 600's great size, weight, and numerous hydraulically driven amenities required more power than Mercedes' largest engine at that time, the 6-cylinder 300, could produce. A new V8 with more than twice the capacity was developed, the 6.3 L "M100". If featured single overhead camshafts (SOHC) and Bosch mechanical fuel injection.
The 600's complex 150-bar (2,176 psi) hydraulic pressure system powered the automobile's windows, seats, sun-roof, boot lid, and automatically closing doors. Adjustable air suspension delivered excellent ride quality and sure handling over any road surface.
In 1967 the M-100 engine and hydraulics were fitted to the much smaller but still substantial 300SEL 6.3, creating the world's fastest four-door sedan. Upon the introduction of the "W116" chassis, a larger 6.9 liter version of M-100 was installed in the Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9.
Famous owners of the 600 have included the Pope and celebrities such as Coco Chanel, Hugh Hefner, Elizabeth Taylor, John Lennon,George Harrison, Karen Carpenter, Jay Kay,[2] Aristotle Onassis, Jack Nicholson, Simon Spies, Ronnie Wood, Bob Jane, Frank Packer,Elvis Presley, Rowan Atkinson and Jeremy Clarkson.
Notable heads of state included Park Chung-hee, Josip Broz Tito, Nicolae Ceauşescu, Pol Pot, Enver Hoxha, Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier, Leonid Brezhnev, Ferdinand Marcos (who owned four, including a Landaulet, a 1981 bulletproof and a six-door version.), Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il also owned a landaulet (both seen in the 65th anniversary parade in Pyongyang on October 10, 2010), and Sadaam Hussein, who owned a long roof landaulet that was recovered after the fall of Baghdad today owned by the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the royal court owned multiple 600 models. Former Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping, wife of the first Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai - Deng Yingchao, and the former King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk, all used the 600. The first Senegalese regime (1960–1980) under president Leopold Sedar Senghor had three 600s, a short wheel base, a long wheel base, and a Landaulet, later replaced by the W126 based Carat Limousine.
Religious leader Guru Maharaj Ji owned one, as did Colombian, drug dealer Pablo Escobar, a LWB six door 600.[ destroyed in an attack on Escobar in 1988 in Medellin.
In cinema the Mercedes 600 was featured in the James Bond films, most notably as transport of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in
On Her Majesty's Secret Service and
Diamonds Are Forever. Kamal Khan is also seen leaving Sotheby's in a 600 in
Octopussy. In television, a Mercedes Benz 600 limousine was used by fictional Channing/Gioberti family matriarch Angela Channing in the American television series
Falcon Crest. Images of the car driving from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Falcon Crest vineyard were featured in the opening credits of the first four seasons.
