The Mercedes museum is selling off this stunning W126 S-Class

These days, even the base-spec Mercedes S-Class comes crammed full of tech and will set you back around £75,000. Granted, it’s a very good car – the best in its class even – but we can’t ever see ourselves having the same pangs of want for the 2019 luxo-barge as we do for this 1982 version.

Just look at those images above. Everything is right about this 280 SE. The gorgeous two-tone green paint that sets off the W126’s fantastic styling, the dark brown leather interior with similarly sombre wood and carpets. Terrific.

It’s for sale too, although the price might make you baulk. It’s up for just over £42,000 – or €47,890 technically, as it’s for sale directly from the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart.

Yes it’s expensive, but coming from the museum means this S-Class has had the full workover. Plus, before it arrived back with Mercedes it only had one single owner.

That lucky so and so was apparently a member of the Portuguese Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. That’s where the order was made, but the S-Class was delivered to Madrid and then shipped to the island of Madeira, where it only covered 13,284km (8,254miles) in its first 10 years of life. Easy.

It was specced well too. The 2.8-litre straight-six makes 182bhp and is paired with a four-speed manual gearbox. In terms of options, the boxes for a sunroof, heated seats and air conditioning were all ticked.

This is a proper luxury item, and with only 22,369miles on the clock it’s in extremely good nick. Would you take the plunge?