The Mercedes W124 series is regarded as one of the finest models to have come out of Stuttgart in the 20th century. Launched in 1985, it had the unenviable task of replacing the popular W123, which had been revered for its almost indestructible build quality. Thankfully, the new E Class did not disappoint. Styled by the legendary Bruno Sacco and featuring innovations that were subsequently adopted by nearly all its competitors, it became the standard and proved immensely popular whether in saloon, coupe, estate, or convertible form.

At the very top of the mainstream W124 family tree was the 500E saloon, launched in 1990 and outfitted with the 5.0-litre M119 V-8 engine from the 500SL roadster. It was created in close collaboration with Porsche, who were commissioned to redesign the W124 chassis to accept the new engine and simultaneously rework the suspension and brakes to ensure that the 322 bhp on offer would not overwhelm the chassis. It took the teams at Porsche’s Reutter-Blue plant and Mercedes’ Sindelfingen assembly line a painstaking 19 days to hand-build each example, but the result was one of the iconic cars of the 1990s, a true wolf in sheep’s clothing, immortalised in films such as Luc Besson’s Taxi (1998).

Perhaps due to this success, Mercedes also decided to introduce a very special and very limited W124 to trump even the 500E: the E60 AMG. Boasting an even higher price, it was a 500E (now E500) sprinkled with the finest components that the engineers at Affalterbach could shoehorn into the W124: a hand-built 6.0-litre version of the M119 V-8 engine, uprated AMG suspension, an AMG exhaust system, 17-inch EVO-II alloy wheels, and sports interior that together make up the ‘957 AMG Technik-Paket’ option code on the build sheet.

Exact production numbers are hard to come by; many 500Es were converted to E60 specification during their early lives, but it is believed that approximately 45 ‘real’ E60 AMGs were made, solely evidenced by the 957 code on their build sheets. This particular example is one such car, and its late chassis number is believed to make it the last E60 that Mercedes-Benz produced. Sold new to Japan and exported to Switzerland in 2016, it features all the aforementioned AMG upgrades, as well as the desirable colour scheme of Sapphire Black with a two-tone Black and Grey leather interior, and is equipped with a sliding sunroof. Incredibly rare and extremely desirable, this is an acquisition opportunity that should not be overlooked.