This Week on Hagerty Marketplace: A Big Benz, a Fast Ford, and a Wildcat

Welcome to This Week on Hagerty Marketplace, a recurring recap of the previous week’s most noteworthy cars and significant sales from the Hagerty Marketplace online auctions.

As the weeks left of winter dwindle down and we look forward to spring, more classics went to new homes this past week on Hagerty Marketplace. The three we’re highlighting this week, though, aren’t cold weather projects but good-to-go rides with V-8 power and plenty of style. They include a pampered family Mercedes, a sweet ’69 Buick, and a tastefully upgraded Ford Galaxie 500 XL.

1979 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL

Sold for $8560

The first generation of Mercedes-Benz’s top-of-the-line S-Class, the 1972–80 model (aka the W116), was one of the best and most expensive automobiles money could buy in the 1970s. The 450SEL was the long-wheelbase version, and this California example was reportedly imported by the grandfather of the seller, who states: “The Mercedes has been stored in a garage since new. The only owners have been my grandfather and myself.”

Being a large high-end luxury car, the Mercedes is packed with features we take for granted today but are nice to have on a classic, like a power sunroof, cruise control, climate control, and power windows. The odometer reads 92,435 miles and there are some flaws, including inoperable air conditioning, but Mercedes-Benzes of this era are famously overbuilt, and this one has lots of life left in it. Despite their size and style, 450SELs are not particularly expensive, and this was a fair price, if slightly favorable to the buyer.

1969 Buick Wildcat Custom Four-Door Hardtop

Sold for $30,228

A cool car with an even cooler name, the full-size Buick Wildcat debuted in 1962 as a luxury trim of the Invicta, but it soon became its own model and replaced the Invicta entirely. A second-gen version came out in 1965, and Buick divided it into three trims: base, Deluxe, and Custom. It was a luxury car, but with a few scoops of high-performance for good measure, particularly when fitted with the 360-hp 430-cid V-8, as on this ’69 model, which also packs 475 lb-ft of torque.

In addition to the engine, this Wildcat comes with a column-shift automatic, dual stainless exhaust, air conditioning, 15-inch rally wheels with BF Goodrich narrow whitewall tires, and a pair of fuzzy dice for good measure. The original Verde Green paint (which almost looks black in the photos) meshes well with the vinyl roof (which actually is black) for an understated yet sinister look. The price here is very strong for a four-door (Wildcats also came as convertibles and two-door hardtops), but this is a very nice example.

1963.5 Ford Galaxie 500 XL Sport Hardtop Q-Code

Sold for $51,360

Partway through 1963, Ford introduced a lower fastback roofline for its 500/XL in order to make the car punch through the air more smoothly on the high-speed ovals of NASCAR racing. These “1963 1/2” Galaxies could be had with a “Q-code” engine, which denoted a 417-cid version of Ford’s FE engine, fed by a single Holley carburetor for 410 hp and 476 lb-ft. Ford also offered an “R-code” version with two Holleys and 425 hp.

This one is represented as one of fewer than 4900 cars built for 1963 with the Q-code engine, but at some point it was updated to R-code specs with the dual four-barrels. The transmission is a T-10 four-speed, and the car wears Rangoon Red paint over black vinyl bucket seats. A genuine R-code car can be properly expensive, over $100K if it’s clean enough, so this one offered basically the same thing in a well-presented package at a solid discount.