This week’s featured car donation is a 1970 Mercedes Benz 300SEL donated to National Public Radio. This car is a very rare model with an interesting history. The Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 is a luxury sedan built from 1968 to 1972. When released it was the fastest four-door vehicle of its time with a 6.3-litre M100 V8 engine that brought the car from 0 to 60 in 6.3 seconds. Considered a crossbreed; It had the body of a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL but had the high powered engine from the 600 series Mercedes-Benz; this is especially impressive as the 600 Series was mostly limousines.
There were only 6,526 made between 1968 to 1972. Our 1970 model was one of only 1,797 built. The Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 was a rarity to see, let alone own. But we came to know the car as an incredible donation from Sarah of Colorado. She donated her green 1970 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 to KUNC through the Car Talk Vehicle Donation Program. KUNC is a public radio station that serves the Northern Colorado area.
When we asked Sarah why she chose to donate her vehicle to KUNC, she said that the 300 was her husband’s car, and they were both huge fans of KUNC. Her husband loved the car and had passed away a few years ago, and she knew that he would approve of her decision to make a Colorado car donation to KUNC. They had named the Mercedes-Benz 300SEL: “Gottlieb” as in Gottlieb Daimler. Gottlieb Daimler was one of the original founders of Mercedes Benz. He was an engineer and an automotive pioneer. This is a perfect name for this car.
Purchased in 1996 for $10,000, the car was carefully maintained and garaged. When donated to KUNC the 300SEL had less than 10,000 miles on it!. Sarah was happy to share this information with me and is glad to know that the vehicle is helping her favorite radio station. She said her car donation was “a win-win.”
We would like to take a moment to thank Sarah for her donation in the memory of her husband. We hope her story inspires others to donate to their favorite charities as well.
If you want to donate a car to KUNC or any of our other stations, you can check us out online at
https://www.cardonationwizard.com/car-talk/info/car-donation-help-support-national-public-radio-programming.html
We take in all types of cars, trucks, SUVs and more for vehicle donations.
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