Being Jay Leno means that on a whim, you can decide to have fun with your car collection and combine a retro design with the latest technologies. The famous TV host did just that and brought out his 1968-1972 300SEL 6.3, a model first introduced at the 1968 Geneva Motor Show.

A Mercedes-Benz engineer took the 109-series Type 300 SEL sedan and placed the Type 600 limo’s 6.3-liter V8 under the hood. After the transplant, the car was able to generate 250 horsepower and this made it have the ability to accelerate to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 136 mph. The 300SEL 6.3 was the fastest road-going sedan of the time. This car even ran faster than a Porsche 911 S or a Jaguar E-Type 4.2. It is equipped with a pneumatic suspension, anti-dive control and four-wheel disc brakes. Leno thought that it was time to make an update on this car. It now has a 6.2-liter V8 M156 engine, the same one that powers the S63, SL63 and E63 AMG. Leno had previously stated that his engine of choice was the M159 V8 that powers the new SLS but we suppose, he changed his mind. Photo gallery after the jump!

Tags: car news, jay leno, jay leno amg engine, jay leno mercedes-benz amg

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 4:18 am and is filed under 2009, 4wheels News, Automakers, Mercedes-Benz, U.S.A., Year, Zone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.