Got £90k for a new saloon? Here’s an old Grosser owned by Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson: three-time Academy Award winner, LA Lakers fan and clearly a man with good taste in automobiles, because it turns out he was the former owner of this brilliantly brown Mercedes-Benz 600. The glorious Grosser is now up for auction at Bonhams Cars with an estimate of between £70,000 and £90,000, which is roughly what a new EQE will set you back. Two very different cars, but one very simple choice. 

Launched in 1963, the Grosser was fitted with a fuel-injected 6.3-litre V8 that produced just shy of 250bhp and a mammoth 369lb ft of torque. That meant, despite weighing around 2.5 tonnes, it'd hit 62mph from a standstill in around 10 seconds. Flat out, you’d be hitting 127mph. 

The Grosser was also the first Merc to use air suspension, so you can bet this 1972 short wheelbase example is as comfortable as the bushy beard of a Tibetan Mastiff. Probably easier to handle than one, too, since it’s got something we seriously take for granted these days; power steering. 

And how wonderfully has the 600 aged? Finished in ‘Bordeaux Red’ (er, brown), it's fronted by a massive grille topped by that oh-so-familiar three-pointed star. The cabin of Nicholson's former limo is finished in ‘Cognac’ leather upholstery too. Yep, that's more brown.

Fewer than 2,700 hand-built Grossers were ever made, and even the most basic examples would’ve started at around £9,000 in the mid-1960s. That's around £170,000 in today's money, so technically this ex-Nicholson example is a bit of a bargain. Still want that EQE?