Flying halfway around the world... to look at a gorgeous old Mercedes 560SEL AMG

Renowned photographer Mark has been working with Top Gear for many, many years. When not taking photos he’s buying inappropriate cars. Here he shares his addiction with the world

In recent years I’ve adopted the awful habit of not viewing cars before actually buying them. And this has – for the most part – always ended up exactly as you’d expect it; with cars arriving in far worse condition than described and in one case not actually turning up at all (followed by the seller disappearing after).

Clearly this approach to buying anything is foolish, let alone a car, and I can’t really justify it other than being impatient or a car being so cheap it’s worth a punt even if it turns out to be crap. The fact I sold off four cars last year (all of which were cars I bought unseen) likely speaks volumes for how well this approach pans out in the long run.

For 2026 it’s a new year and a new me. Or, at the very least, a slightly more sensible approach to buying cars in the form of actually looking at them. The only issue with this is I’m immediately drawn to weird stuff, and it’s usually a miracle if said cars are even within Europe. Which is why I’m currently sat on a plane bound for Tokyo some 9,000 miles away to go and look at an old Mercedes for sale.

Admittedly this isn’t any old Benz; this particular car is a W126 560SEL AMG – the epitome of a blacked out, VIP-spec ’80s uber saloon littered with AMG upgrades from the aero to the exhaust and interior. Now it doesn’t have the 6.0-litre DOHC V8 fitted; those engines command the price of a decent house in 2026. But it does have the perfect combo of what made these pre-merger AMG cars so damn cool; blue-black exterior paint, black leather interior and all of the chrome detailing painted body colour.

It might sound just as daft flying halfway around the world to look at a car as it does buying one unseen, but thankfully I do have some work to do in Japan to try and justify the trip, albeit with a day tacked on to view this particular 1989 SEL located on the outskirts of Tokyo. It’s not on a whim, either. For years and years I’ve been trying to build this exact style of car and failing no fewer than three times using a 500SEL Brabus, 560SEL Brabus and 560SEL Carat in the process. The problem is decent W126 560SELs are now becoming very rare, let alone those with all the AMG upgrades. So when the opportunity arises to buy one that needs no work doing and has all the right paperwork, it’s well worth pursuing.

For years and years I’ve been trying to build this exact style of car

This particular car is currently owned by a French man living in Japan by the name of Stan. That might sound like the start of a good joke, but much like my own obsession for this era of Benz, Stan also found himself in a similar dilemma several years back when it came up for sale in Japan. It was more money than he wanted to spend, but it’d been extensively restored and was a left-hand-drive model originally sold in Japan back in 1989. More importantly, it had the correctly sized AMG Aero 3 wheels and the AMG Japan Version 2 aero – arguably the best looking bodykit for this era of Benz.

I’m massively biased, but it’s a car I’ve obsessed over for years, and rarely do I get so giddy that I actually need to behave like an adult so not to just give Stan a deposit and pray for the best. But let’s be honest, short of it being two cars welded together and covered in rust we already know what the result is going to be...