The 300 SEL 6.3 is a luxury car built by Mercedes-Benz from 1968 to 1972. The car started out as a private venture in 1966 by company engineer Erich Waxenberger. His principle was simple – take the powerful 6.3-litre V8 Mercedes-Benz M100 engine from the luxurious 600 limousine, and fit it into the regular W109 S-Class model, which only had 6-cylinder engines at that time. The result was a nearly 2-tonne sedan with performance similar to most dedicated sports cars of the era. It is said that Rudolf Uhlenhaut, when invited to test drive the prototype, opened the hood at the first red light to find out how the big engine and its supporting equipment had been squeezed in there. Surprisingly, the rather conservative company went ahead and launched the car into the marketplace at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1968, with more than 6,500 built. Jay Leno got hold of this Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 for about USD 5000 and gets to work restoring the classic car.