North Korean 560SEC?!?

[cyberdyne]

Hi All,

I am about to seal the deal on a mint arctic white/black leather 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC, it has 92,000km on the clock and is in absolute showroom shape inside and out as well as under the hood. It is bone stock, save for the JVC CD player in place of the notoriously horrid Becker.

The one "quirk" about this car, is that when checking the VIN thru MBCLUB.ru, it comes back with an original dealer of 'Peoples republic Korea (North Korea)' (or something to that effect, I don't have the VIN in front of me.) with an orginal delivery date of 10.10.89.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I can find nothing on Google or this board and of course contacting anyone inside the DPRK is rather impossible.

So my question is thus...am I about to be the owner of the only DPRK 560SEC now in North America?

I imagine that not too many people inside the DPRK could afford, let alone be allowed to own such a car. Again, I can only imagine what sort of upper crust party assho....official could have owned it!

[Corkscrew]

Originally Posted by cyberdyne

Hi All,

I am about to seal the deal on a mint arctic white/black leather 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC, it has 92,000km on the clock and is in absolute showroom shape inside and out as well as under the hood. It is bone stock, save for the JVC CD player in place of the notoriously horrid Becker.

The one "quirk" about this car, is that when checking the VIN thru MBCLUB.ru, it comes back with an original dealer of 'Peoples republic Korea (North Korea)' (or something to that effect, I don't have the VIN in front of me.) with an orginal delivery date of 10.10.89.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I can find nothing on Google or this board and of course contacting anyone inside the DPRK is rather impossible.

So my question is thus...am I about to be the owner of the only DPRK 560SEC now in North America?

I imagine that not too many people inside the DPRK could afford, let alone be allowed to own such a car. Again, I can only imagine what sort of upper crust party assho....official could have owned it!

I made two visits to North Korea (1990 and 1994) and the only cars there were owned by the government....most of them were Mercedes. The NK tour agency used Mercedes to transfer individual guests around their country. My guess is that you bought one of the MBs owned by one of the high government officials. Both Kim Jung Il and his father Kim Il Sung were fond of Mercedes. I think you bought yourself a piece of history. You just might have a car once owned by one of the Kims.

[Corkscrew]

Originally Posted by cyberdyne

Hi All,

I am about to seal the deal on a mint arctic white/black leather 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC, it has 92,000km on the clock and is in absolute showroom shape inside and out as well as under the hood. It is bone stock, save for the JVC CD player in place of the notoriously horrid Becker.

The one "quirk" about this car, is that when checking the VIN thru MBCLUB.ru, it comes back with an original dealer of 'Peoples republic Korea (North Korea)' (or something to that effect, I don't have the VIN in front of me.) with an orginal delivery date of 10.10.89.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I can find nothing on Google or this board and of course contacting anyone inside the DPRK is rather impossible.

So my question is thus...am I about to be the owner of the only DPRK 560SEC now in North America?

I imagine that not too many people inside the DPRK could afford, let alone be allowed to own such a car. Again, I can only imagine what sort of upper crust party assho....official could have owned it!

An added thought: since all the Mercedes that I saw in NK were black your arctic white one was probably owned by one of the Kims...or someone VERY high. Too bad you can't do a DNA awab of the steering wheel.

Here are some photos that my daughter took when we were in North Korea on the 2nd trip:

http://www.corkscrew-balloon.com/annie/korea/index.html

[Teutone]

A great find with an interesting provenance. What will you find between the seat cushions?

[janos_z]

was the car delivered IN korea, or TO korea? i'm asking b/c i wonder if it was TO korea, could it have been delivered in canada to a korean consulate or some other gov't official? i'd do some more digging.

[marlinspike]

Originally Posted by Corkscrew

An added thought: since all the Mercedes that I saw in NK were black your arctic white one was probably owned by one of the Kims...or someone VERY high. Too bad you can't do a DNA awab of the steering wheel.

Here are some photos that my daughter took when we were in North Korea on the 2nd trip:

http://www.corkscrew-balloon.com/annie/korea/index.html

Your daughter is quite the photographer. DPRK is much more beautiful that I had imagined.

I recall once reading that Kim Jung Il had a white 560SEC.

[cyberdyne]

Janos,

From what I gather from the VIN decode, I believe that the car was orginally delivered TO someone in the DPRK, we can only guess as to who!

If the car was a consulate car, they are usually delivered through dealership network of the destination country and the orginal dealer would reflect this. (So it would display as 'Canada' VS. DPRK)

Also, a 560SEC would be a rather strange choice for an official consulate car as the 560SEL was a far more popular choice.

- Steve

[cyberdyne]

Corkscrew,

I must second marlinspike's thoughts, your daughter has captured some amazing images that, unfortunately, most of the world will never see and even fewer will appreciate.

- Steve

[cyberdyne]

As promised here is the VIN as decoded by MBCLUB.ru!

Plant 50
Model 560 SEC
Chassis 1260451A507476
Engine 117968 12 075563
Transmission 722350 03 274942
Tyres
Primary PIRELLI
Order 0 9 848 00276
Lights BOSCH
Cab 03497
Delivery date 10.10.89
Dealer Korea people's republic (North Korea) (848)
Interior leather black or anthracite (261)
Paint 147 arctic white (T) (с 01.01.1985 по 31.12.1993)
Options
251 Becker Radio Mexico cassette, full stereo, electronic (с 01.04.1980 по 30.11.1990)
363 - (Any ideas guys?)
442 airbag in steering wheel (с 01.02.1980 по 31.10.1993)
490 elimination of windshield/washing-water heater (с 01.02.1988)
524 paintcoat preservation (с 01.01.1964)
581 automatic climate control (с 01.01.1977)
592 heat-insulating glass, all-around, heated rear window pane (laminated glass), band filter
green heat-insulating glass all round, heated rear window, laminated safety glass - tinted strip (с 01.01.1972)
601 oil for rear axle with limited-slip differential, in canisters and containers (с 01.01.1964 по 31.01.1990)
682 fire extinguisher (с 01.04.1970)
873 seat heater for left and right front seats (с 01.02.1984)

[Dr.Grillz]

Very interesting info! Color combination is also very intersting, you don't see many white on black cars. I wonder if there's any way to find out it was delivered to originally via Mercedes... or if they would give out this piece of info.