That's sad to see a lovely red W126 SE bite the dust.

But, they will save your life in the BIG crash, as evidenced by this one-passenger cage TOTALLY intact. Passenger(s) would be unhurt if wearing their seatbelts. Look at the ford and other cars, intrusion INSIDE the passenger compartment, serious injuries or death to the passenger(s)/driver, was it worth it just to save a few dollars on gasoline?

Read of another crash on another forum, poster was on the autobahn, and passed by a W126 coupe, flying by them at about 110 mph plus, several miles ahead they caught up, the car had crashed head on into an underpass abutment, the front end was pancaked to the firewall, passenger cell intact, driver and passenger were outside the car walking around and scratching their heads.!!!

This kind of thing DEFINATELY was one factor in deciding to go ahead and buy the Mercedes W126 when I finally did it. But I hope I never put the car to that kind of test.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)