W126 power rear seat top trim

An obvious issue on my 560SEL was how the rear seat was mounted. There was an obvious gap between the parcel shelf and the rear seat. The 560SEL came standard with a W126 power rear seat. This either standard or optional on other W126 LWB models. It seemed clear that when the self-leveling rear suspension was removed, the trim was not put back correctly.

On a car without the power rear seat, the backrest is fixed into position so there is no need for an additional trim piece. On a car with the W126 power rear seat, there is a […]

W126 reclining rear seat

Long wheelbase models of the W126 could be equipped with an electric reclining rear seat. From the factory the W126 reclining rear seat was standard on the 560SEL and optional on other models. local subsidiaries may have ordered other models with this feature as standard in their markets too. At least here in Australia it is always seen on the 560 models, commonly seen on the first generation 380SEL and occasionally seen on the 420SEL. Privately imported cars vary, but it is more commonly seen on the higher specification models like the 500SEL.

The W126 reclining rear seat was not […]

560SEL further evaluation

After owning the 560SEL for a couple of weeks I’ve had a chance to spent a bit more time looking over the car. I’ve also had a few more opportunities to drive the car – covering about 150 km over the time. This is a lot less than I would normally want to do, but with COVID19 lockdowns, I can only drive the car for specific purposes such as driving to the shops to buy food.

First thing to do was to put the car up on the hoist and have a look underneath. The car was ordered with a […]