THE BOSSES' WHEELS

60 years ago Mercedes-Benz defined a new era of luxury cars with its behemoth 600. Glen Waddington drives the choice of celebs and despots

- Glen Waddington

IT'S SIGNIFICANT that my passenger is Marcus Breitschwerdt. Not only because he is the boss of the Mercedes-Benz Museum, but because, as he says himself: 'I am the son of an engineer, the brother of an engineer - and a nephew of an engineer.' His uncle was the late Werner Breitschwerdt, a key member of the team that developed the Mercedes-Benz 600 and who went on in 1983 to become Chairman of the Board of Management of the whole company. 'We wanted to build a car that could do everything that was possible, and we wanted it to be able to do more than any other car, for the driver and the passenger,' he said of the 600, shortly before he stepped down from that role in the late 1980s.

Marcus Breitschwerdt displays equally obvious pride. It has a 250bhp V8, so it was as fast as a Porsche 911 yet also capable of carrying passengers in great comfort. It has power-assisted brakes, with dual calipers, so you can drive it quickly because you can also slow down in a short distance. There is air suspension, and high-pressure hydraulics move the windows, the seats, even the boot-lid. It was built for a very long life, so it is very strong and very safe.